'*     JAN  301911 


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THE  BIBLE  FOR  HOME  AND  SCHOOL 

SHAILER   MATHEWS,  General  Editor 

PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORICAL  AND  COMPARATIVE  THEOLOGY 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


THE    BOOK   OF    THE 
PROPHECIES   OF   ISAIAH 

JOHN   EDGAR   McFADYEN 


THE  BIBLE    FOR   HOME    AND    SCHOOL 

SHAILER   MATHEWS,  General  Editor 


GENESIS 

By  Professor  H.  G.  Mitchell 
ISAIAH 

By  Professor  John  E.  McFadyen 
ACTS 

By  Professor  George  H.  Gilbert 
GALATIANS 

By  Professor  B.  W.  Bacon 
EPHESIANS  AND   COLOSSIANS 

By  Reverend  Gross  Alexander 
HEBREWS 

By  Professor  E.  J.  Goodspeed 

VOLUMES  IN  PREPARATION 
DEUTERONOMY 

By  Professor  W.  G.  Jordan 
JUDGES 

By  Professor  Edward  L.  Curtis 
I   SAMUEL 

By  Professor  L.  W.  Batten 
JOB 

By  Professor  George  A.  Barton 
PSALMS 

By  Reverend  J.  P.  Peters 
AMOS,    HOSEA,   AND    MICAH 

By  Professor  J.  M.  P.  Smith 
MATTHEW 

By  Professor  A.  T.  Robertson 
MARK 

By  Professor  M.  W.  Jacobus 
JOHN 

By  Professor  Shailer  Mathews 
ROMANS 

By  Professor  E.  I.  Bosworth 


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THE  BIBLE  FOR  HOME  AND  SCHOOL 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE 
PROPHECIES  OF  ISAIAH 


BY 


JOHN    EDGAR  ^McFADYEN,   D.D. 

PROFESSOR   OF   OLD   TESTAMENT   LANGUAGE,    LITERATURE, 

AND   THEOLOGY 

UNITED    FREE   CHURCH    COLLEGE,    GLASGOW 


THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1910 

AU  rights  reserved 


^^ 


Copyright,  1910, 
By  the   MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.      Published  November,  1910. 


The  references  in  the  foot-notes  marked  "  S.V."  are  to  the  American  Standard 
Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible.     Copyright,  1901,  by  Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons. 

By  permission  of  the  Publishers. 


NoriDoolJ  i^resB 

J.  S.  Cashing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO    MY   FRIEND 
REV.    PROFESSOR   W.   G.   JORDAN,   D.D. 


GENERAL    INTRODUCTION 

The  Bible  for  Home  and  School  is  intended  to  place 
the  results  of  the  best  modern  biblical  scholarship  at  the 
disposal  of  the  general  reader.  It  does  not  seek  to  dupli- 
cate other  commentaries  to  which  the  student  must  turn. 
Its  chief  characteristics  are  {a)  its  rigid  exclusion  of  all 
processes,  both  critical  and  exegetical,  from  its  notes ; 
{d)  its  presupposition  and  its  use  of  the  assured  results 
of  historical  investigation  and  criticism  wherever  such 
results  throw  light  on  the  biblical  text ;  (c)  its  running 
analysis  both  in  text  and  comment ;  {d)  its  brief  explana- 
tory notes  adapted  to  the  rapid  reader ;  {e)  its  thorough 
but  brief  Introductions  ;  (/)  its  use  of  the  Revised  Version 
of  1 88 1,  supplemented  with  all  important  renderings  in 
other  versions. 

Biblical  science  has  progressed  rapidly  during  the  past 
few  years,  but  the  reader  still  lacks  a  brief,  comprehensive 
commentary  that  shall  extend  to  him  in  usable  form  mate- 
rial now  at  the  disposition  of  the  student.  It  is  hoped 
that  in  this  series  the  needs  of  intelligent  Sunday  School 
teachers  have  been  met,  as  well  as  those  of  clergymen 
and  lay  readers,  and  that  in  scope,  purpose,  and  loyalty 
to  the  Scriptures  as  a  foundation  of  Christian  thought  and 
life,  its  volumes  will  stimulate  the  intelligent  use  of  the 
Bible  in  the  home  and  the  school. 


PREFACE 

The  textual,  critical,  and  historical  problems  of  the  book 
of  Isaiah  are  very  numerous ;  and  this  volume,  which  has 
been  obliged  to  consult  brevity  at  every  point,  has  been 
able  to  do  little  more  than  record  results  without  the 
processes  which  justify  them.  Frequently  the  data  are 
so  slender  and  capable  of  so  various  interpretations  that 
those  results  are  very  far  from  certain.  Where  —  as  not 
infrequently  in  Isaiah  —  two  scholars,  adopting  the  same 
critical  methods,  differ  by  half  a  millennium  in  their  esti- 
mate of  the  date  of  a  passage,  we  are  clearly  yet  a  long 
way  from  unanimity. 

But,  in  face  of  this  regrettable  uncertainty,  two  things 
have  to  be  said.  First,  there  is  much  that  is  practically 
certain :  few  to-day,  for  example,  doubt  the  exilic  origin  of 
chapters  40-55.  And  secondly,  on  any  view  of  the  origin 
of  the  book,  it  is  literature  and  it  is  religion.  Within  the 
limits  prescribed  by  the  editor  of  the  series,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  do  justice  to  both  these  aspects  of  it.  Though 
the  subject  of  Hebrew  metre  swarms  with  unsolved  prob- 
lems, it  seemed  worth  while,  following  recent  scholars, 
to  attempt  a  metrical  arrangement  of  the  book.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  this  encourages  an  appreciation 
of  its  literary  quality  and  helps  us  to  feel  that  much  of 
Hebrew  prophecy  is  poetic  not  only  in  spirit  and  sub- 
stance, but  in  form  as  well.  Naturally  the  terseness  and 
symnietryof  a  Hebrew  verse  are  sometimes  gravely  obscured 


PREFACE 


by  the  English  translation,  which  may  render  two  Hebrew 
words  by  eleven  (cf.  6i  :  ii),  or  even  by  thirteen  (cf.  5  :  2) 
English  words.  It  is  further  obscured  by  an  occasional 
omission  (cf.  37  :  25),  or  more  frequently  interpolation  of 
words  (cf.  7  :  i8b)  or  even  of  lines  (cf.  22  : 9-1 1 ;  59  :  i8c). 
When,  however,  allowance  is  made  for  these  intrusions, 
which  are  sometimes  plain  enough  in  the  metrically  ar- 
ranged text,  and  are  usually  noted  in  the  commentary,  we 
cannot  but  recognize  that  in  the  book  of  Isaiah  poetry 
no  less  than  prophecy  has  attained  some  of  its  noblest 
flights. 

But  the  supreme  interest  of  the  Bible  must  ever  be  the 
religious  interest;  and  any  worthy  study  of  the  book  of 
Isaiah  ought  to  carry  us  not  only  into  the  history  of  those 
far-off  days,  but  into  the  soul  of  the  prophet  himself  and 
of  those  others — great,  too,  though  less  majestic  than  he  — 
whose  words  are  embodied  in  his  book.  This  is  what,  in 
brief  compass,  I  have  tried  to  do  —  to  show  how  for  these 
men  the  worship  of  God  involved  the  service  of  man,  and 
how  their  hearts  were  kept  steady  and  hopeful  in  the  face 
of  disappointment  and  disaster  by  their  faith  in  God  and 
his  eternal  purpose. 

JOHN  E.   McFADYEN. 
Lake  of  Bays, 
Ontario,  5th  August,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction ^ 

I.    Origin  and  Arrangement  of  the  Book  of  Isaiah  .  i 

II.    The  Political  Conditions  of  Isaiah's  Time      .        .  2 

III.  Moral  and  Social  Conditions  of  Isaiah's  Time       .  6 

IV.  Isaiah  the  Man 8 

V.     Isaiah  as  a  Writer 12 

VI.     Literary  Problems  of  the  Book  of  Isaiah      .        .  13 

VII.    Analysis 16 

VIII.    Chronology 19 

IX.     Bibliography 20 

Text  and  Commentary  on  Chapters  1-39     ....  23 

The  Exiles'  Book  of  Consolation  (Chapters  40-55)  .        .  245 

I.  Historical  Background  and  Origin  of  the  Prophecy  247 
II.    The  Prophet's  Message 249 

III.  The  Servant  of  Jehovah 252 

IV.  The  Style  of  Deutero-Isaiah 256 

V.    Analysis 258 

Text  and  Commentary  on  Chapters  40-55     .        .        .        .261 

Trito-Isaiah  (Chapters  56-66) 355 

I.    The  Background  of  the  Prophecy    .        .        .        -357 

II.  The  Prophet's  Message 359 

HI.    The  Style  of  Trito-Isaiah 361 

IV.    Analysis 3^2 

Text  and  Commentary  on  Chapters  56-66  ....  363 

Index 423 


THE    BOOK    OF   THE 
PROPHECIES    OF   ISAIAH 

JOHN   EDGAR   McFADYEN 


xiii 


INTRODUCTION 
I.   Origin  and  Arrangement  of  the  Book  of  Isaiah 

In  the  middle  of  the  book  of  Isaiah,  as  it  has  come  down 
to  us,  occurs  a  purely  narrative  and  historical  section, 
consisting  of  four  chapters  (36-39)  —  written  for  the  most 
part  in  prose  —  dealing  with  Isaiah's  conduct  during  the 
blockade  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Assyrians  and  with  his 
relations  to  King  Hezekiah,  and  having  all  the  appearance 
of  being  an  excerpt  from  a  biography  of  the  prophet. 
This  simple  fact  furnishes,  to  begin  with,  three  great  di- 
visions of  the  book  :  Chaps.  1-35  ;  Chaps.  36-39  ;  Chaps. 
40-66.  With  the  third  division,  which  readily  lends  it- 
self to  subdivision,  we  shall  deal  more  expUcitly  later. 

It  is  easy  to  show  that  the  first  division  (Chaps.  1-35) 
ultimately  rests  upon  smaller  groups,  at  least  some  of  which 
must  have  been  circulated  independently.  This  super- 
scription—  "the  vision,  or  word,  or  oracle,  of  Isaiah  the 
son  of  Amoz^'  —  occurs  at  the  beginning  of  Chaps,  i,  2,  and 
13.  Such  a  repetition  would  have  been  unnecessary  and 
unnatural,  had  all  the  prophecies  originally  appeared  to- 
gether as  one  whole  :  nothing  would  in  that  case  have  been 
necessary  but  the  superscription  at  the  beginning  of  the 
book.  Therefore  we  are  justified  in  regarding  Chaps,  i 
(or  2)-i2  as  a  group  by  itself. 

It  is  natural  to  take  as  the  second  group  Chaps.  13-23. 
These  chapters,  in  addition  to  their  special  superscription, 
are  held  together  in  two  ways:  (i)  by  the  fact  that  almost 
every  oracle  in  the  entire  group  deals  with  foreign  peoples, 
for  example,  Babylon,  Moab,  Egypt,  Tyre  ;  and  (2)  by  the 
word  burden  (or  rather  oracle,  utterance)  which  heads  most 
of  these  oracles  (cf.  Chaps.  13,  15,  17,  19,  etc.). 


INTRODUCTION 


Another  group  is  constituted  by  Chaps.  28-33,  ^^  which 
all  the  chapters  but  one  ^  begin  with  Woe,  and  it  is  no 
accident  that  these  chapters  deal  with  a  single  period 
(704-701  B.C.)  and,  in  the  main,  with  a  single  theme,  the 
projected  assault  of  the  Assyrians  upon  Judah,  and  Judah's 
endeavor  to  negotiate  an  Egyptian  alliance.  The  remain- 
ing oracles  on  both  sides  of  this  group  further  constitute  two 
groups] by  themselves:  Chaps.  24-27,  a  great  picture  of 
the  convulsion  of  the  world,  following  not  inappropriately 
the  oracles  upon  the  heathen  nations ;  and  Chaps.  34  and 
35,  describing  the  destruction  of  Edom  and  of  all  the  nations 
opposed  to  Judah,  with  the  great  golden  age  which  should 
follow. 

The  first  half,  then,  of  the  book  of  Isaiah  divides  itself 
naturally  as  follows : 

Chaps.  1-12  ;  Chaps.  13-23  ;  Chaps.  24-27  ;  Chaps.  28- 
33  ;  Chaps.  34,  35  ;  Chaps.  36-39.  ^ 

The  history  of  the  ultimate  origin  of  these  groups  and 
of  their  subsequent  association  into  a  connected  whole 
must,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  largely  conjectural. 
What  is  certain  is  that  the  figure  of  the  great  prophet  and 
his  genuine  oracles  began  to  gather  upon  themselves,  not 
long  after  his  death,  the  eager  and  reverent  attention  of 
his  countrymen,  who,  in  later  ages,  incorporated  in  his 
book  the  work  of  other  hands,  sometimes  inferior  but  often 
akin,  in  spirit  and  literary  power,  to  Isaiah's  own.  This 
process  of  amplification  went  on  till  at  least  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  (Chaps,  24-27).  But  the  original  oracles 
of  Isaiah  are  undoubtedly  to  be  found  most  of  all  in  the 
first  and  fourth  groups  —  Chaps.  1-12  and  28-33. 

II.  The  Political  Conditions  of  Isaiah's  Time 

Throughout  the  whole  of  Isaiah's  career,  and  indeed 
for  nearly  a  hundred  years  after,  the  background  of  Hebrew 
history  was  Assyria.     The  presence  of  that  mighty  empire 

'  Chap.  32  begins  with  behold,  which  is  not  unlike  woe  in  the  Hebrew. 
2 


INTRODUCTION 


is  always  felt  —  at  first  as  a  shadow,  but  very  soon  as  a 
powerful  hand,  laid  not  only  upon  Israel  and  Judah,  but 
upon  all  the  little  kingdoms  of  the  west,  the  Syrians  (or 
Aramaeans),  the  Phoenicians,  the  Phihstines,  and  others. 
Most  of  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  have  Assyria  in  view,  and 
are  fully  intelligible  only  as  the  influence  of  that  power  upon 
the  fortunes  and  policy  of  Judah  is  understood. 

In  745  B.C.,  five  years  before  Isaiah's  call,  Tiglath  Pileser 
ascended  the  throne  of  Assyria,  and  soon  thereafter  his 
heavy  hand  began  to  be  felt  in  the  west.  Some  Syrian 
towns  were  taken.  In  738  B.C.  Assyria  came  into  direct 
contact  with  Israel.  For  half  a  century  Israel  under 
Jeroboam  II  and  Judah  under  Uzziah  had  been  relatively 
free  from  war,  and  were  enjoying  great  prosperity.  But 
during  this  period  were  developed  also  those  e\dls  which 
too  frequently  accompany  prosperity,  and  towards  the 
end  of  it  political  and  social  hfe  in  Israel  was  in  a  state 
of  dissolution,  bordering  on  anarchy.  All  this  is  vividly 
reflected  in  the  sorrowful  pages  of  Hosea.  Significantly 
enough  we  are  told  that  Menahem,  now  king  of  Israel 
(738  B.C.),  "gave  Pul  {i.e.  Tiglath  Pileser)  a  thousand 
talents  of  silver,  that  his  hand  might  be  with  him  to  con- 
firm the  kingdom  in  his  hand"  (2  Kings  15  :  19).  In  other 
words,  Israel  is  now  definitely  a  vassal  of  Assyria. 

In  all  this  Judah  was  not  involved.  For  over  two 
hundred  years  she  and  Israel  had  gone  their  separate  ways, 
sometimes  even  being  involved  in  open  hostility,  so  that 
Israel's  submission  to  Assyria  was  quite  consistent  with  the 
independence  of  Judah.  This  independence,  however, 
was  not  to  last  long.  The  western  kingdoms,  always 
restive  under  the  yoke  of  Assyria,  were  ready  to  throw  it 
off  at  the  first  opportunity.  We  hear  in  735  of  an  assault 
upon  Judah  by  the  combined  forces  of  Israel  and  Syria 
or  Aram  (Isa.  7  :  i  ;  2  Kings  16:5).  In  the  Old  Testament 
no  motive  is  assigned  for  this,  but  it  has  been  very  plausibly 
assumed  that  the  object  of  the  attacking  powers  was  to 
coerce  Judah  into  a  coaHtion  of  western  states  against 


INTRODUCTION 


Assyria.  Individually,  they  were  helpless  against  the 
mighty  power  which  dealt  with  weaker  peoples  like  a  boy 
harrying  a  bird's  nest  (Isa.  lo :  14)  ;  their  only  hope  lay 
in  combination  :  and  the  defection  of  so  important  a  state 
as  Judah,  situated  midway  between  Syria  and  Israel  on 
the  north  and  Philistia  on  the  south,  would  have  been  fatal. 
Thrown  into  consternation  by  the  invasion,  Ahaz,  contrary 
to  the  advice  of  Isaiah  (7:4),  took  the  fatal  step  of  appeal- 
ing for  help  to  Assyria  (2  Kings  16  :  7).  This  gave  Tiglath 
Pileser  just  the  opportunity  he  wanted.  He  came  west, 
ravaged  the  districts  of  northern  Israel  (734  B.C.,  2  Kings 
15  :  29),  and  took  Damascus,  the  capital  of  Aram,  in  732 
B.C.  Judah  for  the  moment  was  deUvered  from  her  dis- 
tress, but  the  price  she  paid  was  a  heavy  one:  she  too 
became  henceforth  a  tributary  and  vassal  of  Assyria. 
This  is  the  period  which  forms  the  background  of  Chaps. 
7  and  8. 

The  death  of  the  Assyrian  monarch  was  always  the  signal 
for  a  revolt  in  the  west ;  and  on  the  death  of  Tiglath  Pileser 
in  727,  Hosea,  king  of  Israel  and  vassal  of  Assyria,  trusting 
to  Egypt  —  that  other  great  powder,  which  vividly  im- 
pressed the  imagination  and  raised  the  hopes  of  the  Hebrews 
of  those  days  —  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Assyria.  In  724 
Shalmaneser  IV,  the  new  monarch,  appeared  in  the  west, 
and  began  the  siege  of  Israel's  capital,  Samaria,  which, 
however,  was  only  taken  after  three  years  by  Shalmaneser's 
general  and  successor,  Sargon,  in  721  B.C.  Over  27,000  of 
her  people  were  carried  into  captivity,  and,  pohtically, 
Israel  was  extinguished.  Isaiah's  prophetic  words  were 
justified.  He  had  anticipated  the  fall  of  Samaria  (28  :  1-4) 
as  of  Damascus  (17  :  i  ff.,  cf.  7  :  16  ;  8  : 4). 

The  next  incident  of  importance  that  meets  us  on  the 
pages  of  Isaiah  is  the  siege  and  capture  of  Ashdod  by  the 
Assyrians  in  711  B.C.  (Chap.  20).  Phihstia  (to  which 
Ashdod  belonged),  and  other  western  states,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  difficulties  in  which  Sargon  was  at  this  time 
being  involved  in  the  far  east,  revolted.    Judah  is  men- 


INTRODUCTION 


tioned  as  among  the  rebels,  but  probably  she  ultimately 
withdrew  from  the  confederacy.  At  any  rate  —  and  this 
was  no  doubt  due  to  the  influence  of  Isaiah's  earnest  warn- 
ings —  Judah  for  thirty  years  (from  735  B.C.)  kept  from  an 
open  rupture  with  Assyria,  though  there  must  always  have 
been  a  would-be  patriotic  party  in  favor  of  such  a  pohcy. 

The  death  of  Sargon  in  705,  however,  like  the  death  of 
his  predecessors,  was  the  signal  for  a  general  revolt  through- 
out the  west,  and  this  time  Judah  was  tempted  to  join. 
Negotiations  were  set  on  foot  with  Egypt,  the  country 
of  large  promise  and  slender  performance  (30 :  5,  7  ;  31  : 
I  ff.),  and  the  hopes  of  the  west  were  high.  But  they  had 
reckoned  without  their  host.  The  terrible  Sargon  was 
succeeded  by  the  more  terrible  Sennacherib  (?  14:29), 
who,  after  extinguishing  the  flame  of  insurrection  in  the 
east,  turned  his  steps  towards  the  rebelhous  states  in  the 
west  in  701.  Most  of  Phoenicia  in  the  north  was  smftly 
reduced ;  thence  Sennacherib  passed  to  PhiHstia  in  the 
south,  defeated  at  Eltekeh  near  Ekron  a  force  of  Egyptians 
and  Arabs,  and  besieged  and  took  Ekron,  one  of  the 
PhiHstine  cities.  He  was  now  free  to  begin  his  assault  upon 
Judah. 

We  have  the  great  good  fortune  to  possess  a  tolerably 
detailed  account  of  this  campaign  both  from  Hebrew  and 
Assyrian  sources.  The  Hebrew  account  is  contained  in 
Isaiah,  Chaps.  36  and  37,  which  corresponds  with  slight 
variations  to  2  Kings  18:13,  17-19:37,  ^^e  latter  account 
being  preceded  by  the  very  valuable  fragment  18  :  14-16. 
The  vivid  words  of  Sennacherib  reveal  the  thoroughness 
with  which  the  devastating  campaign  was  prosecuted  in 
Judah.  "Hezekiah  of  Judah,  who  had  not  submitted  to 
my  yoke,  I  besieged  forty-six  of  his  strong  cities,  fortresses, 
and  small  places  in  their  neighborhood  and  took  them. 
Two  hundred  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  and 
women,  horses,  mules,  asses,  camels,  oxen  and  sheep  with- 
out number,  I  carried  off  from  them  and  counted  as  spoil. 
.  .  .    Himself  I  shut  up  like  a  bird  in  a  cage  in  Jerusalem 


INTRODUCTION 


his  royal  city."  But  though  Judah  suffered  so  terribly 
and  Jerusalem  was  blockaded  so  closely  that  her  king  could 
be  compared  to  a  bird  in  a  cage,  the  city  itself  was  not 
captured.  Addicted  as  the  Assyrian  monarchs  are  to 
boasting,  yet  Sennacherib  does  not  even  claim 'to  have 
taken  the  city,  and  we  may  be  very  sure  that  the  city  was 
not  taken.  Thus  by  a  miraculous  Providence  Isaiah's 
great  prophecy  was  vindicated  that  Jehovah  of  Hosts 
would  defend  the  city  whose  temple  was  his  earthly  home. 

III.  Moral  and  Social  Conditions  of  Isaiah's  Time 

As  Isaiah  was  called  to  the  prophetic  office  in  the  year 
of  Uzziah's  death  (740  B.C.,  Chap.  6)  none  of  his  oracles 
comes  from  the  period  of  Uzziah ;  but  something  of  the 
splendor  of  that  monarch's  long  and  brilliant  reign  is  re- 
flected from  the  earlier  prophecies  of  Isaiah.  Judah  was 
still  strong,  well  fortified  (2  :  15),  and  abundantly  equipped 
with  the  resources  of  war  (2:7).  By  the  capture  of  the 
port  of  Elath  (2  Kings  14  :  22),  Uzziah  had  carried  the 
trade  of  Judah  to  the  Red  Sea,  and,  by  means  of  his  ships 
(Isa.  2  :  16),  no  doubt  far  beyond  its  northern  shores. 
This  trade  brought  silver  and  gold  in  abundance  to  Judah 
(2:7);  the  wealth  in  turn  developed  a  spirit  of  pride 
(2:12  ff.)  and  materialism,  and  created  in  those  who 
possessed  it  a  cruel  and  unscrupulous  temper.  The  poor 
were  ground  to  the  dust  (3  :  14  f.) ;  their  property  was 
gradually  appropriated  by  the  rich,  who  added  field  to  field 
and  house  to  house  (5:8).  Among  the  upper  classes 
drunkenness  and  revelry  became  the  order  of  the  day 
(5:11  f.,  22).  They  were  a  jubilant  people  (5  :  14)  — 
jubilant  even  in  a  desperate  crisis  to  the  point  of  an  almost 
blasphemous  frivolity  (22  :  2,  12  f.).  The  women  had  cast 
off  the  restraints  with  which  Oriental  women  were  wont  to 
hedge  themselves  about,  and  with  haughty  head  and 
leering  eyes  and  tinkUng  feet  they  walked  the  fashionable 
streets  of  Jerusalem  (3  :  16-4  :  i). 

6 


INTRODUCTION 


Little  wonder  that  in  a  society  like  this  moral  distinc- 
tions had  lost  their  meaning,  and  the  moral  order  was 
flouted.  Good  was  evil  and  evil  good  (5  :  20).  The  reli- 
gious leaders,  so  far  from  stemming  this  tide  of  corruption, 
were  themselves  the  foremost  in  depravity.  Within  the 
very  precincts  of  the  temple,  the  prophets  and  priests  would 
become  brutally  intoxicated,  and  scenes  were  enacted  in- 
describably disgusting  (28  :  7  ff.).  These  men,  who  most 
of  all  should  have  lent  an  intelHgent  and  sympathetic  ear 
to  the  solemn  warnings  of  Isaiah,  derided  him  and  his 
message  in  a  drunken  parody  (28  :g  f.).  With  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  faithful  souls  like  the  disciples  whom  Isaiah 
gathered  about  him  (8  :  16),  the  people  and  their  leader 
alike  had  abandoned  all  faith  in  the  spiritual  power  that 
governs  the  world.  Their  motto  was,  ''Don't  bother  us 
with  your  holy  One  of  Israel"  (30  :  11).  Avarice  and  de- 
bauchery, scepticism  (5  :  19)  and  mockery,  were  the  prev- 
alent tempers  of  the  day  among  those  who  should  have 
been  leaders,  but  who,  as  Isaiah  says,  were  really  mis- 
leaders  (3  :  12).  They  were  in  reaHty  rebels  against  the 
God  of  Israel  and  his  holy  law  (i  :  2). 

But  to  us  the  strange  thing  is  that  these  were  religious 
men  —  destitute  indeed  of  the  elements  of  morality,  yet 
passionately  religious.  Unlike  the  prophet's  religion, 
however,  theirs  was  not  only  expressed,  but  exhausted, 
in  ritual.  They  drew  near  to  God,  not  with  their  hearts, 
but  only  with  their  Hps  (29  :  13).  And  yet  not  with  their 
lips  only,  but  with  elaborate  and  costly  ritual  service  as 
well.  Zealously  they  thronged  his  courts  at  the  great 
festivals,  and  though  their  hands  were  stained  with  blood 
(i  :  15),  they  were  not  empty.  Rams,  bullocks,  lambs, 
goats  —  all  these  were  offered  with  enthusiasm  and  de- 
votion (i  :  II  ff.),  which  may  have  sometimes  been  born 
of  despair ;  ^  but  the  spoil  of  the  poor  was  in  the  houses 
from  which  they  came  to  the  worship  of  their  God  (3  :  14), 
and  their  bloody  hands,  as  the  prophet  reminds  them, 

'  If  Chap.  I  comes,  as  the  bulk  of  it  may,  from  Sennacherib's  invasion. 


INTRODUCTION 


would  therefore  be  stretched  out  to  him  in  vain  (i  :  15). 
For  it  was  not  their  cattle,  but  their  hves  that  he  wanted 
—  worship  which  came  out  of  pure  and  humble  hearts 
(29  :  13)  and  which  expressed  itself  in  an  honorable  civic 
life,  in  social  justice,  and  in  practical  pity  for  the  defence- 
less and  the  poor  (i  :  17).  Theirs  was  a  God  who  looked 
not  for  holocausts,  but  for  justice;  for  service  indeed,  but 
for  moral  and  social  rather  than  ritual  service.  "  He  looked 
for  justice,  but,  behold,  oppression  ;  for  righteousness,  but, 
behold,  a  cry"  (5:7). 

IV.  Isaiah  the  Man 

Whether  we  regard  it  on  its  poHtical  or  on  its  social  side, 
the  task  which  Isaiah  had  to  face  was  as  hard  as  ever  fell 
to  the  lot  of  mortal.  Grave  political  problems  had  arisen 
with  the  intrusion  of  Assyria  ;  while  the  social  Ufe  of  Judah, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  honeycombed  with  pride,  super- 
stition (2:6;  8 :  19),  materiahsm,  and  frivolity.  Yet 
throughout  it  all,  the  soul  of  Isaiah  remained  serene  and 
steady,  because  his  eyes  had  seen  the  King,  Jehovah  of 
hosts  (6:5). 

The  fine  consistency  of  his  pohcy  and  the  quiet  confi- 
dence with  which  he  confronted  even  the  most  desperate 
crises  are  explained  by  the  great  vision  with  which  he  was 
launched  upon  his  prophetic  career  (Chap.  6).  Then  it 
was  given  him  to  see  the  glorious  Lord  upon  his  throne, 
high  and  hfted  up  ;  and  from  that  day  to  the  end,  he  bore 
the  vision  on  his  heart.  Whatever  else  he  might  see,  he 
also  saw  the  Lord,  even  in  dark  days  when  no  other  eyes 
in  Judah  could  see  him.  His  glorious  presence  and  his 
invincible  purpose  were  to  Isaiah  the  most  real  things  in 
the  world.  In  this  sense  he  is  preeminently  the  prophet 
of  faith.  In  individual  Hfe,  in  national  history,  God  is 
the  most  potent  factor,  —  in  the  last  analysis,  the  only 
potent  factor,  however  completely  he  might  be  ignored  or, 
in   practice,    denied   by   scheming   politicians   and   their 


INTRODUCTION 


frivolous  people.  The  deepest  folly  in  a  military  crisis 
is  to  look  only  to  the  armory  and  ignore  God  (22  :  8-11). 
When,  in  the  invasion  of  Judah  by  the  confederate  forces 
of  Aram  and  Israel,  the  hearts  of  the  king  and  his  people 
were  shaken  Hke  the  forest  trees  before  the  wind  (7:2), 
Isaiah's  heart  is  calm  —  the  only  steady  heart  in  Judah  — 
because  his  eyes  had  seen  the  King.  Behind  all  the  per- 
plexities and  confusions  his  faith  pierced  to  the  great  im- 
movable Reahty,  the  subHme  spiritual  Presence  whose 
glory  fills  the  universe  (6:3);  to  that  mighty  Purpose 
which  embraces  the  whole  world,  and  which  no  human 
power  can  ultimately  thwart  or  annul  (14 :  26  f.).  PoU- 
ticians  might  think  themselves  very  astute,  but  he  also 
is  wise,  as  Isaiah  trenchantly  says  (31  :  2).  He  has  his 
great  world-plan ;  and,  whatever  else  miscarries,  that  is 
triumphant. 

It  is  this  clear  and  steady  vision  of  God,  this  unshaken 
faith  in  his  abiding  presence  and  in  the  triumph  of  his  pur- 
pose, that  explains  the  poUtical  conduct  of  Isaiah,  and 
justifies  its  seeming  inconsistency.  In  his  earher  ministry 
he  had  passionately  sought  to  dissuade  Judah  from  forni- 
ing  an  alHance  with  Assyria  (7:4);  towards  the  close  of 
his  career  he  is  equally  insistent  that  that  alHance  be 
maintained,  and  that  no  attempt  be  made  to  negotiate 
with  Eg3^t  (30 :  I  f.  ;  31:1).  In  both  cases  his  advice 
must  have  seemed  madness  to  the  worldly-wise  politicians. 
It  is  small  wonder  that  Ahaz,  menaced  by  the  confederate 
troops  of  the  two  nations  to  the  north  of  him,  should  have 
sought  to  secure  his  safety  by  the  help  of  the  mighty  As- 
syrians ;  or  that,  thirty  years  afterwards,  the  patriotic 
poHticians,  eager  to  take  advantage  of  the  difficulties  of 
Assyria,  should  have  sought  the  aid  of  Egypt.  Signifi- 
cantly enough,  these  are  the  two  occasions  on  which 
Isaiah  seems  to  have  been  moved  to  pecuHar  indignation 
by  the  rejection  of  his  poHcy.  Ahaz's  repudiation  of  his 
advice  to  "keep  quiet  and  fear  not"  (7  14)  he  describes 
in  passionate  words  as  a  rejection  and  a  provocation  of 


INTRODUCTION 


God  himself  (7  :  13)  ;  and  on  the  poHtical  schemers  who 
tried  to  negotiate  a  secret  alUance  with  Egypt  he  denounces 
a  Woe  (30 :  I  ;  31:1).  Guthe  has  said  that  a  poUtician 
of  our  day  would  have  regarded  his  advice  to  Ahaz  as  at 
once  idle  and  ridiculous  ;  and,  on  the  basis  of  it,  some  have 
maintained  that,  though  Isaiah  may  have  been  a  mighty 
man  of  faith,  he  was  in  no  sense  a  statesman.  But,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  even  from  a  purely  pohtical  point  of  view, 
Isaiah's  judgment  was  the  truest  wisdom  after  all.  Aram 
and  Israel,  had  they  been  even  more  powerful  than  they 
were,  —  Isaiah  contemptuously  calls  them  the  "tails  of 
smoking  fire-brands"  (7:4),  —  would  in  any  case,  even 
without  the  appeal  of  Ahaz,  very  soon  have  been  crushed 
by  Assyria,  who,  for  good  reasons  of  her  own,  would  not 
have  tolerated  the  rise  of  a  powerful  confederacy  in  the 
west;  and  as  for  Egypt,  the  folly  of  relying  upon  her  had 
been  demonstrated  over  and  over  again.  Always  ready 
to  promise,  seldom  willing  or  able  to  perform  —  such  was 
her  reputation  far  beyond  her  own  borders;  even  the 
Assyrian  Sargon,  in  711,  incidentally  alludes  to  Pharaoh, 
king  of  Egypt,  as  '^a  prince  who  could  not  save." 

Isaiah's  faith  in  God  turned  out  to  be  the  truest  political 
wisdom.  On  his  view  of  the  world,  God  alone  was  worthy 
of  fear  (8  :  13)  —  not  Aram  or  Israel,  not  Egypt  or  Assyria, 
no  force  in  the  universe  but  God  himself.  For  as  the 
world  is  resplendent  with  his  glory  (6:3)  and  the  arena  of 
his  purpose,  so  history  is  nothing  but  the  gradual  evolu- 
tion of  that  purpose,  and  every  earthly  power  is  but  his 
tool  which,  wiUingly  or  unwillingly,  must  become  con- 
tributory to  its  accomplishment.  The  Assyrian  may 
proudly  work  his  cruel  and  terrible  will  upon  the  weaker 
nations  of  the  world  (10  :  7  ff.)  ;  but  in  reality  he  is  nothing 
but  a  tool  in  Jehovah's  hand,  an  instrument  mth  which 
his  holy  omnipotent  will  is  done  (10 :  5)  :  and  he  too, 
when  he  has  played  his  predetermined  part,  will  one  day, 
for  his  pride  and  cruelty,  be  shattered  by  the  Arm  that  is 
infinitely  mightier  than  his  own  (10:33  f-)-     Doubtless 


INTRODUCTION 


the  event  did  not  always  happen  at  the  moment  or  in  the 
manner  Isaiah  had  anticipated.  Samaria  fell  a  decade  or  so 
later  than  he  seems  at  one  time  to  have  expected  (8:4); 
and  the  might  of  Assyria  was  not  shattered  upon  the  hills 
of  Judah  (14 :  25).  But  in  every  essential  feature  the 
forecast  of  Isaiah  was  justified.  Samaria  did  fall,  and 
Assyria  did  retire  from  Judah,  her  purpose  unaccomplished. 

These  marvellous  forecasts  were  no  accident;  they  came 
from  the  prophet's  intimate  communion  with  his  God 
(Amos  3:7),  and  from  his  clear  appreciation  of  and  w^hole- 
hearted  devotion  to  the  divine  purpose  which  stood  clear 
before  his  purged  eyes.  It  was  this  that  enabled  him  to 
announce  the  security  of  Jerusalem  when,  beleaguered  as  she 
was  by  Assyria,  the  prospects  of  her  deUverance  seemed 
meagre  and  remote  indeed.  Surely  nothing  in  the  annals 
of  faith  is  more  subhme  than  this,  that  after  Judah  had 
been  cruelly  overrun,  with  forty-six  of  her  cities  in  ruins 
and  the  dread  enemy  at  the  gates,  Isaiah  should  stand 
forth,  calm  and  unafraid,  and  declare,  against  all  seeming 
and  all  hope,  that  the  unseen  Jehovah  would  defend  his 
city.  Jerusalem  was  one  day  destined  to  fall,  but  not  yet; 
her  destruction  at  that  time  would  have  meant  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  rehgion  which  found  a  home  within  her  walls, 
and  that  must  not  be.  There,  in  Zion,  was  to  rise  the 
building  whose  stones  were  the  faithful  (28  :  16)  —  men 
Hke  Isaiah  and  the  little  band  he  gathered  about  him, 
disciples  who,  hke  the  master,  had  a  passion  for  justice  and 
righteousness  (28  :  17),  and  whose  eyes  had  seen  the  King, 
in  other  words,  men  of  faith  and  character. 

Isaiah  is  thus  the  prophet  of  hope  as  much  as  of  faith. 
His  hope  he  expressed  in  his  so-called  doctrine  of  the 
remnant,  in  the  belief  that,  though  not  the  whole  people — 
that  was  impossible  (22:14) — yet  a  remnant  would 
return  to  Jehovah  ;  and  this  hope  he  incarnated  in  the  son 
whom  he  named  Shear-jashub  ^  (j's)-  He  looked  for- 
ward to  the  day  when,  by  a  stern  judgment,  the  wicked 

1  This  means  "  a  remnant  will  return." 


INTRODUCTION 


city  would  be  purged  of  her  dross  and  become  indeed  "the 
City  of  righteousness,  the  faithful  Town  "  (i :  25  f.).  Right- 
eousness and  faith,  just  and  noble  civic  Hfe  and  quiet  con- 
fidence in  the  unseen  God,  —  it  was  to  create  these  things 
among  men  that  Isaiah  devoted  his  long  and  splendid 
ministry.  Others  had  insisted  on  righteousness,  but  more 
than  any  other  is  he  the  prophet  of  faith  ;  and  his  message 
is  summed  up  in  these  three  immortal  words: 

"If  ye  will  not  beUeve,  surely  ye  shall  not  be  estabUshed'' 

(7:9)- 

"He  that  beheveth  shall  not  give  way"  ^  (28  :  16). 

"In  quietness  and  in  confidence  shall  be  your  strength" 
(30 :  15)- 

V.   Isaiah  as  a  Writer 

The  regal  soul  of  Isaiah  is  reflected  in  the  majesty  of  his 
style.  He  is  a  rare  master  in  the  art  of  noble  speech : 
always  incisive,  never  diffuse;  clear,  clean-cut,  full- 
toned,  yet  governed  everywhere  by  a  fine  restraint.  His 
superb  imagination  is  evidenced  ahke  in  simple  figures, 
such  as  the  comparison  of  Jehovah  to  the  lion  that  faces 
the  shepherds,  defiant  and  unafraid  (31  :4),  and  in  longer 
and  more  sustained  passages,  such  as  his  description  of 
the  day  of  Jehovah,  or  of  the  terrible  Assyrian  army.  An 
illustration  or  two  will  be  more  effective  than  a  chapter  of 
criticism. 

Here,  for  example,  is  the  day  of  Jehovah,  as  it  appeared 
to  the  prophetic  eyes  of  Isaiah : 

For  a  day  of  Jehovah  is  coming 
Upon  all  that  is  haughty  and  proud, 
Upon  all  that  is  lofty  and  high : 
Upon  cedars  of  Lebanon  all, 
And  oaks  of  Bashan  all; 
Upon  all  the  great  mountains 
And  all  the  high  hills; 

I  Emended  text.    RV  has  make  haste,  SV  he  in  haste,  Gr.  he  asJtamed. 
12 


INTRODUCTION 


Upon  all  the  proud  towers 

And  all  the  strong  walls 

And  all  gallant  ships. 

Man's  haughtiness  shall  he  brought  down, 

And  man's  loftiness  shall  he  laid  low, 

And  in  that  great  day 

Shall  Jehovah  alone  he  exalted. 

Get  ye  into  the  caves  of  the  rocks 

And  the  holes  of  the  earth, 

From  hefore  the  dread  presence  of  God, 

When  he  rises  up  to  smite  earth  with  his  terror 

(2  :  12  ff.). 
There  are  few  things  in  hterature  to  surpass  in  vividness 
and  simple  vigor  Isaiah's  description  of  the  Assyrian  army  : 

See!  hastily,  swiftly  they  come, 

None  weary,  none  stumhling  among  them. 
The  hand  of  their  loins  never  loosed. 

The  thong  of  their  shoes  never  torn. 
Their  arrows  are  sharpened. 

Their  hows  are  all  hent. 
The  hoofs  of  their  horses  are  counted  as  flint. 

And  their  wheels  as  the  whirlwind. 
Their  roar  is  like  that  of  the  lioness, 

And  like  the  young  lions  they  roar, 
Thundering,  seizing  the  prey. 

And  hearing  it  of  to  a  place  of  security 

(5  :  26-29). 

VI.  Literary  Problems  of  the  Book  of  Isaiah 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  Uterary  problems  of 
the  book  of  Isaiah  ;  but  they  happen  to  be  of  unusual  im- 
portance in  forming  a  true  estimate  of  what  the  prophet's 
message  really  was,  and  their  nature  may  be  briefly  in- 
dicated by  one  or  two  illustrations. 

Take,  for  example,  Chap.  29.     The  first  four  verses  an- 

13 


INTRODUCTION 


nounce,  in  the  most  unmistakable  terms,  a  terrible  siege  of 
Jerusalem,  when  there  will  be  mourning  and  lamentation 
and  the  city  shall  be  reduced  to  the  most  abject  humihation. 
The  fifth  verse,  however,  starts  off  in  a  wholly  different 
strain.  Here  it  is  announced  that  the  enemy  shall  become 
Hke  small  dust,  and  hke  the  chaff  that  passeth  away.  In 
vs.  6,  Jerusalem  is  to  be  "visited  of  Jehovah"  with  thunder 
and  earthquake,  whirlwind  and  tempest,  and  fire.  The 
natural  impression  made  by  this  verse,  if  it  stood  alone, 
or  if  it  immediately  followed  vss.  1-4,  would  be  that  for 
Jerusalem  the  visitation  is  to  be  one  of  terror :  Jehovah 
will  come  in  judgment,  and  bring  the  awful  powers  of 
nature,  as  in  vss.  1-4  he  is  to  bring  the  Assyrians,  to  bear 
upon  the  guilty  city.  But  following  vs.  5,  we  must  sup- 
pose, though  this  does  not  seem  very  natural,  that,  for 
Jerusalem,  the  visitation  is  a  gracious  visitation,  and  the 
terrors  announced  are  for  the  enemy.  So  in  vs.  7  the 
beleaguering  foes  are  to  pass  like  a  dream,  and  in  vs.  8 
their  disappointment  is  compared  to  that  of  a  dreamer 
when  he  wakes. 

Unquestionably  the  effect  of  this  announcement  of  the 
sure  and  utter  destruction  of  the  enemy  is  to  blunt  the 
edge  of  the  terrible  prophecy  against  Jerusalem  which  had 
just  gone  before ;  and  it  is  not  only  fair  but  necessary  to 
ask  whether  the  same  prophet  —  especially  when  that 
prophet  is  so  consummate  an  orator  as  Isaiah  —  could  at 
the  same  time  have  delivered  two  messages,  one  of  which 
must  have  gone  very  far  to  obhterate  from  the  mind  of 
his  audience  the  terror  produced  by  the  other.  It  is  not 
absolutely  inconceivable,  especially  if  the  second  message 
were  spoken  among  his  intimate  disciples,  but  it  does  not 
seem  probable. 

Or  take  a  similar  case  in  31  : 4.  Isaiah  has  just  been 
denouncing  (vss.  1-3)  the  Egyptian  aUiance  and  declaring 
that  ''both  he  that  helpeth  shall  stumble,  and  he  that  is 
helped  shall  fall,  and  they  all  shall  be  consumed  together." 
Then  in  a  simile  of  splendid  power  he  goes  on : 

14 


INTRODUCTION 


"For  thus  saith  Jehovah  unto  me,  As  the  Hon  and  the 
young  Hon  growHng  over  his  prey,  if  a  multitude  of 
shepherds  be  caUed  forth  against  him,  will  not  be  dis- 
mayed at  their  voice,  nor  daunted  at  the  noise  of 
them :  so  will  Jehovah  of  hosts  come  down  to  fight 
upon  Mount  Zion,  and  upon  the  hill  thereof"  (vs.  4). 

The  point  is  obscured,  or  rather  obliterated,  by  the  transla- 
tion ^^upon  mount  Zion"  instead  of  against  (which  is  read 
in  the  margin).^  But  coming  as  it  does  after  the  threat 
that  "all  shall  be  consumed  together,"  against  is  certainly 
much  more  natural  and  almost  certainly  correct.  In  that 
case,  Jehovah  is  the  lion,  mighty  and  unafraid,  and  Zion  is 
his  prey.  Very  different,  however,  —  indeed,  quite  the 
reverse,  —  is  the  impression  made  by  the  following  verse  (5) : 

"As  birds  hovering,  so  will  Jehovah  of  hosts  protect 
Jerusalem  ;  he  will  protect  and  deliver  it,  he  will  pass 
over  and  preserve  it." 

The  transition  from  the  fearless  Hon  to  the  fluttering  birds, 
though  not  absolutely  indefensible,  certainly  seems  very 
improbable ;  and  to  say  nothing  of  the  awkwardness  of 
the  sentence  in  Hebrew,  the  threat  of  destruction  in  vs.  4, 
which  is  also  supported  by  the  previous  context,  is  simply 
negated  by  the  promise  of  preservation  in  vs.  5.  And 
again  we  must  raise  the  question  :  Is  it  probable  that 
Isaiah  or  any  other  speaker  would  have  presented  to  his 
audience  a  message  whose  component  parts  were  so  con- 
flicting as  to  cancel  each  other?  That  were  perplexity 
indeed. 

The  alternative  is  to  suppose  that  the  original  words 
of  Isaiah,  which  in  these  passages  (as,  beyond  any  question, 
in  22  :  1-14)  were  probably  words  of  threat  and  doom,  were 
supplemented  by  later  writers,  who  had  in  view  the  un- 
doubted historic  fact  of  the  preservation  of  the  city,  besides 
other  words  of  Isaiah  which  had  definitely  foretold  that 

I  The  Hebrew  preposition  can  mean  either  upon  or  against. 
15 


INTRODUCTION 


preservation  (cf.  37  :  29;  cf.  vs.  7).  There  was  all  the  more 
likeHhood  of  this,  as  later  ages,  which  were  fond  of  ideahz- 
ing  Jerusalem,  looked  forward  with  imagination  and  hope 
to  the  great  day  of  Jehovah,  when  the  godless  nations,  in 
vain  assault  upon  the  holy  city,  would  be  shattered,  and 
the  city  preserved  inviolate.  Nothing  would  be  more 
natural  to  later  scribes,  whose  ideas  of  hterary  property 
were  very  different  from  our  own,  than  to  project  this 
thought  back  upon  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  the  more  so 
as  it  had  been  encouraged  and  expressed  by  other  words 
of  his.  But  in  that  case  it  becomes  a  duty  —  though  fre- 
quently a  task  of  great  complexity  —  to  disentangle  from 
our  present  text  the  original  words  of  Isaiah.  It  is  only 
then,  when  the  text  is  stripped  of  the  comments  and  hopes 
of  later  ages,  that  we  can  understand  the  prophet's  real 
message  and  the  changing  phases  it  assumed.  Thus, 
for  example,  if  the  argument  is  correct,  Isaiah's  message 
at  that  moment  (in  Chaps.  29  and  31)  was  one  of  unmiti- 
gated doom,  and  the  great  prophet  strikes  a  far  sterner 
note  than  our  present  text  would  lead  us  to  suppose. 

This  is,  of  course,  by  no  means  to  say  that  he  was  a 
prophet  of  doom.  We  know  that  he  announced  the 
miraculous  preservation  of  the  city  :  we  know  that  he  was 
a  prophet  of  hope,  and  that  he  beheved  that  "a  remnant 
would  return."  But  there  was  also  a  very  stern  side  to 
his  character  and  message  (cf.  5:17;  7:175.;  22:  1-14), 
which  the  present  text  of  some  passages,  whose  terror  is  shot 
through  with  promise,  too  easily  leads  us  to  forget  and 
ignore;  and  it  is  the  dehcate  task  of  literary  criticism  to 
recover  so  far  as  it  can  the  prophet's  genuine  and  original 
words. 

ANALYSIS  OF  CHAPTERS   1-39 
Prophecies  concerning  Judah  and  Israel  (Chaps.  1-12) 

I.  Jerusalem  :  her  present  sin  and  punishment :  her  future  redemption  and 
glory  (i  :i-2  15). 

(i)   The  prophet's  lament  over  the  unfaithfuhiess  of  the  people 
to  their  God  (i  :i-9). 

16 


INTRODUCTION 


(2)  The  futility  of  a  merely  ceremonial  worship  (i  :  10-17). 

(3)  The  great  alternatives  (i :  18-20). 

(4)  Zion's  present  shame  and  future  glory  (i  :  21-28). 

(5)  The  heathen  cult  and  its  doom  (i  :  29-31). 

(6)  Jerusalem  the  centre  of  blessing  to  the  world  (2  : 1-5). 

2.  Judgment  upon  the  wealth  and  pride  of  Judah  (2  : 6-4  :  6). 

(i)   Jehovah's  judgment  day  (2  :  6-22). 

(2)  A  reign  of  anarchy  (3  : 1-15). 

(3)  The  doom  of  the  haughty  women  (3  :  16-4  :  i). 

(4)  Zion's  final  glory  (4  :  2-6). 

3.  The  vineyard  with  the  wild  grapes  (chap.  s). 

(i)   The  song  of  the  vineyard  (5  : 1-7). 

(2)  Woe!  (5:8-24). 

(3)  A  foreign  army  is  coming  (5  :  25-30). 

4.  The  prophet's  call  (chap.  6). 

5.  The  crisis  of  735  B.C.  (7:1-9:7). 

(i)   The  prophet's  word  to  the  terrified  king  (7  : 1-9). 

(2)  The  great  refusal  and  the  sign  (7  :  ia-i6). 

(3)  Judah  will  also  be  ravaged  (7  :  17-25). 

(4)  The  fall  of  Damascus  and  Samaria  (8  : 1-4). 

(5)  The  invasion  of  Judah  (8  :  5-8). 

(6)  The  futility  of  opposition  to  Judah  (8  :  9  f). 

(7)  None  is  to  be  feared  but  Jehovah  (8  :  11-15). 

(8)  Isaiah's  patient  hope  (8  :  16-18). 

(9)  The  awful  pUght  of  imbeUeving  Judah  (8  :  19-22). 
(10)   The  great  deUverance  and  the  glorious  king  (9  : 1-7). 

6.  The  doom  of  Israel  (9  :  8-10  :  4). 

7.  The  doom  of  the  Assyrian  (10  :  5-34)- 

(i)   The  two  plans  —  Assyria's  and  Jehovah's  (10  :  5-15). 

(2)  The  fate  of  Assyria  and  Judah  (10  :  16-23). 

(3)  The  consolation  of  Zion  :  Assyria  will  assuredly  fall  (10  :  24-34). 

8.  The  bliss  of  Israel  in  the  latter  days  (chaps.  11  and  12). 

(i)   The  Messianic  king  and  kingdom  (11  : 1-9). 

(2)  The  triumphal  return  (11  :  10-16). 

(3)  The  song  of  thanksgiving  (chap.  12). 

Prophecies  concerning  Foreign  Nations  (Chaps.  3-23) 

1.  Prophecy  concerning  Babylon  (13  : 1-14  :  23). 

(i)  The  doom  of  Babylon  (chap.  13). 

(2)   Song  of  triumph  over  the  fall  of  Babylon's  king  (14  : 1-23). 

2.  Jehovah's  invincible  world  plan  (14  :  24-27). 

3.  Warning  to  Philistia  (14  :  28-32). 

4.  Lament  over  Moab  (chaps.  15  and  16). 

5.  Prophecy  concerning  Damascus  and  northern  Israel  (17  :  i-ii). 

(i)   The  destruction  of  Damascus  (17  : 1-3). 
(2)   The  doom  of  Israel  (17  : 4-1 1). 

6.  The  speedy  doom  of  the  Assyrians  (17  :  12-18  :  7). 

(i)   Their  sudden  destruction  (17  :  12-14). 

(2)   Isaiah's  answer  to  the  Ethiopian  ambassadors  (chap.  18). 

7.  The  destiny  of  Egypt  (chap.  19). 

(i)  The  disasters  of  Egypt  (19  : 1-15)- 
(2)  The  conversion  of  Egypt  (19  :  16-25). 
C  17 


INTRODUCTION 


8.  Warning  against  the  folly  of  an  alliance  with  Egypt  (chap.  20). 

9.  The  Fall  of  Babylon  (chap.  21). 

(i)   Its  consequences  for  Judah  (21  :  i-io). 

(2)   Its  consequences  for  the  trading  tribes  of  the  desert  (21 :  11-17). 

10.  Judah's  unpardonable  sin  (22  : 1-14). 

11.  Personal  threats  and  promises  (22  :  15-25). 

(i)   The  doom  of  Shebna  (22  :  15-18). 

(2)  The  exaltation  of  EUakim  (22  :  19-23). 

(3)  The  downfall  of  Eliakim's  family  (22  :  24i). 

12.  The  fate  of  Phoenicia  (chap.  23). 

(i)  The  elegy  (23  : 1-14). 

(2)  The  revival  of  Tyre  (23  :  15-18). 

The  Great  World  Judgment  (Chaps.  24-27) 

1.  The  judgment :  the  rebels  punished  (chap.  24). 

2.  Song  of  thanksgiving  over  the  destruction  of  some  proud  city  (25  : 1-5). 

3.  The  banquet  of  the  nations  on  Mount  Zion  (25  :  6-8). 

4.  Song  over  the  anticipated  destruction  of  Moab  (25  :  9-12). 

5.  Song  of  gratitude  and  hope  (26  : 1-19). 

(i)   Jerusalem  secure  :  the  proud  city  destroyed  (26  : 1-6). 

(2)  It  is  well  with  the  righteous,  iU  with  the  wicked  (26  :  7-10). 

(3)  The  utter  destruction  of  the  enemy  (26  :  11-14). 

(4)  A  yet  more  glorious  day  (26  :  15-19). 

6.  Israel's  security  in  the  great  world  judgment  (26  :  20-27  :  i). 

7.  Song  of  the  vineyard  (27  :  2-6). 

8.  Jehovah's  mercy  to  Israel  (27  :  7-1 1). 

9.  Gathered  home  (27  :  12  f). 

Warnings  and  Promises  to  Jerusalem  (Chaps.  28-33) 

1.  Woe  to  Samaria  (28  : 1-6). 

2.  The  scoffers  of  Jerusalem  threatened  (28  :  7-22). 

(i)  Isaiah's  solemn  warning  to  the  drunken  priests  and  prophets 

(28:7-13). 
(2)   The  folly  of  the  Egyptian  alliance  (28  :  14-22). 

3.  The  patience  and  considerateness  of  the  divine  purpose  (28  :  23-29). 

4.  The  character  and  fate  of  Jerusalem  (29  : 1-15). 

(i)   The  fate  of  Jerusalem  (29  : 1-8). 

(2)  The  spiritual   torpor  and  religious    formality  of  the  people 
(29:9-15). 

5.  Doubters  rebuked  by  a  vision  of  Israel's  welfare  in  the  latter  days 

(29:16-24). 

6.  The  Egyptian  alliance  a  ruinous  policy  (30  : 1-17). 

(i)   The  embassy  to  Egypt  (30  : 1-7). 
(2)  Judah's  rebellion  and  ruin  (30  :  8-17). 

7.  The  final  trixmiph  and  prosperity  of  Jerusalem  (30 :  18-33). 

(i)   Forgiveness  and  prosperity  (30  :  18-26). 
(2)   The  glorious  triumph  (30  :  27-33). 

8.  The  folly  of  the  Egyptian  alliance  (31  : 1-4). 

9.  The  enemy's  downfall  (31  :  5-9). 

10.  Rulers  and  people  in  the  coming  days  (32  : 1-8). 

11.  Warning  to  the  women  (32  :  9-14). 

18 


INTRODUCTION 


12.  The  security  and  prosperity  of  the  coming  days  (32  :  15-20). 

13.  The  present  distress  and  future  glory  of  Jerusalem  (chap.  33). 

(i)   The  distress  {33  ■  i-q)- 

(2)   The  deliverance  {33  :  10-24). 

The  Golden  Age  (Chaps.  34  and  35) 

1.  The  day  of  vengeance  (chap.  34). 

(i)   The  destruction  of  the  nations  (31  :  1-4). 
(2)   The  destruction  of  Edom  (34  :  5-17). 

2.  The  joy  of  the  redeemed  (chap.  35). 

Historical  Appendix  (Chaps.  36-39) 

1.  Isaiah  encourages  Hezekiah  to  resist  Sennacherib's  summons  to  surrender 

Jerusalem  (chaps.  36  and  37). 

(i)    First  narrative  (36  :  1-37  :  ga,  37  f). 
(2)    Second  narrative  (36  :  9-36). 

2.  Hezekiah's  sickness,  recovery,  and  song  of  thanksgiving  (chap.  38). 

(i)    Hezekiah's  sickness  (38  :  1-8). 

(2)  His  song  of  thanksgiving  (38  :  9-20). 

(3)  His  recovery  (38  :  21  f). 

3.  Hezekiah's  vanity  and  Isaiah's  rebuke  (chap.  39). 


VIII.   Chronology 

B.C. 

I  Death  of  Uzziah,  king  of  Judah. 
74°'    1  Call  of  Isaiah. 

735.   Invasion  of  Judah  by  Aram  (Syria)  and  Israel. 
734.   Northern  Israel  ravaged 
732.   Capture  of  Damascus  (chief  city 

of  Aram) 
721.   Capture  of  Samaria  (cliief  city 

of  Israel) 
711.   Capture  of  Ashdod  (one  of  the 

chief  cities  of  the  Philistines) 
701.   Invasion  of  Judah  by  the  Assyrians  under  Sennacheribo 
681.   Assassination  of  Sennacherib. 
607.   Fall  of  Nineveh.  • 

End  of  the  Assyrian  and  estabUshment  of  the  Baby-- 

Ionian  empire. 
604-561.   Reign  of  Nebuchadrezzar  of  Babylon. 
586.   Fall  of  Jerusalem. 
586-538.   Babylonian  exile. 

19 


by  the  Assyrians. 


INTRODUCTION 


549-546.   Conquest  of  Media  and  Lydia  by  Cyrus. 
540    (about).  Deutero-Isaiah  (Chaps.  40-55). 
538.   Conquest  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus. 

End  of  the  Babylonian  and   establishment  of  the 
Persian  empire. 
537.   Jewish  exiles  return  to  Palestine. 
520-516.   Building  of  the  second  temple. 
460  (about).   Trito-Isaiah  (Chaps.   56-66).     Malachi. 
445.   Nehemiah  arrives  at  Jerusalem,  rebuilds  the  walls, 
and  reorganizes  the  community. 

Bibliography 

The  literature  on  Isaiah  is  very  extensive.  Especially 
numerous  are  German  monographs  dealing  with  particular 
critical  or  historical  problems.  The  following  brief  list, 
having  in  view  the  needs  of  the  average  English  or  Ameri- 
can reader  unacquainted  with  Hebrew  and  not  deeply 
interested  in  critical  problems,  is  deliberately  confined  to 
English  books  of  a  scholarly  but  untechnical  nature. 

Commentaries 

T.  K.  Cheyne.  The  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  2  vols.  (1889).  Very 
thorough  and  able  ;  the  writer  has  since  modified  many  of  his 
conclusions. 

J.  Skinner.  Isaiah,  2  vols,  in  The  Cambridge  Bible  for  Schools  and 
Colleges.  Scholarly  and  judicial ;  especially  good  on  the  theo- 
logical side. 

O.  C.  Whitehouse.  Isaiah,  2  vols,  in  The  Century  Bible.  Careful 
and  independent ;  especially  strong  on  the  historical  side. 

H.  G.  Mitchell.     Isaiah,  A  study  of  Chaps.  1-12. 

A.  B.  Davidson.     Isaiah  (in  the  Temple  Bible). 

Translations 

T.  K.  Cheyne.  The  Book  of  the  Prophet  Isaiah,  in  Sacred  Books  of 
the  Old  Testament.  The  prophecies  are  arranged,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, in  chronological  order,  with  explanatory  notes  and  pictorial 
illustrations. 


INTRODUCTION 


G.  H.  Box.  The  Book  of  Isaiah.  This  translation  gives  special 
attention  to  the  metrical  structure  of  the  book. 

C.  F.  Kent.  Isaiah  is  translated  in  the  third  volume  of  The  Studeni's 
Old  Testament,  entitled  "  The  Sermons,  Epistles,  and  Apocalypses 
of  Israel's  Prophets."  With  a  historical  introduction  and  careful 
attention  to  metrical  structure. 


Miscellaneous 

A.  F.  KiRKPATRiCK.     The  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets. 
S.  R.  Driver.     Isaiah,  his  Life  and  Times. 
W.  R.  Smith.     The  Prophets  of  Israel,  pp.  191-373. 
G.  A.  Smith.     The  Book  of  Isaiah,  in  The  Expositor's  Bible.     Illumi- 
nating, eloquent,  and  stimulating. 
Jerusalem,  vol.  II,  pp.  132-180. 
Article  on  Isaiah  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 
C.  F.  Kent  and  F.  K.  Sanders.     Isaiah  is  dealt  with  in  vols.  I  and  II 
of  the  Messages  of  the  Bible  series.     A  good  English  paraphrase 
with  brief  historical  introductions. 
W.  G.  Jordan.     Prophetic  Ideas  and  Ideals,  pp.  55-108. 


Histories 

C.  F.  Kent.     The  Divided  Kingdom. 

H.  P.  Smith.     Old  Testament  History. 

J.  F.  McCuRDY.     History,  Prophecy,  and  the  Monuments. 

G.  W.  Wade.     Old  Testament  History. 

Chapters  40-66 

In  addition  to  the  above  list,  the  following  books  should  be  added 
for  the  study  of  Chaps.  40-66. 
A.  B.  Davidson.     The  Exile  and  the  Restoration. 

Old  Testament  Prophecy  (pp.  367-467). 
A.   S.   Peake.     The  Problem  of  Suffering  in  the  Old  Testament, 

pp.  34-72;   172-193- 
G.  C.  Workman.     The  Servant  of  Jehovah. 
T.  K.  Cheyne.     Jewish  Religious  Life  after  the  Exile,  pp.  1-125. 
C.  F.  Kent.     A  History  of  the  Jewish  People. 


21 


THE    BOOK    OF   THE    PROPHET 
ISAIAH 

PROPHECIES   CONCERNING  JUDAH  AND 
ISRAEL  (Chaps.  1-12) 

Jerusalem:  Her  Present  Sin  and  Punishment:   Her 
Future  R^deiiIption  and  Glory  (i  :  1-2  :  5) 

The  Superscription  (1:1) 

1.  The  vision  of  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz,  which 
he  saw  concerning  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  in  the 
days  of  Uzziah,  Jotham,  Ahaz,  and  Hezekiah,  kings 
of  Judah. 

The  interest  of  the  opening  section  of  the  book  of  Isaiah 
(i  :  1-2  :  5)  gathers  round  the  fortunes  of  Jerusalem.  The  tone  is 
on  the  whole  sorrowful  and  severe  ;  but  the  pervading  gloom  gives 
place  in  occasional  verses,  and  especially  towards  the  end  (2  :  2-4),  to 
briUiant  visions  of  the  ultimate  redemption  and  glory  of  the  now 
sinful  city.  Thus,  whether  its  several  paragraphs  all  come  from 
the  hand  of  Isaiah  or  not,  the  section,  as  we  now  have  it,  constitutes 
an  artistic  and  impressive  unity. 

1:1.  A  prophet  is  a  seer,  a  man  of  vision;  and  what  he  de- 
clares is  what  he  saw.  The  title  in  vs.  i,  which  confines  the 
prophecies  to  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  clearly  cannot  apply  to  the 
whole  book.  Chap.  13,  for  example,  deals  with  Babylon; 
probably  it  apphes  only  to  Chaps.  1-12.  Isaiah  received  his 
prophetic  call  in  the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died  (cf.  6:1),  i.e.  740 
B.C.,  and  his  career  extended  at  any  rate  through  forty  years  — 
to  701  B.C.,  the  year  of  Sennacherib's  famous  campaign  against 
Jerusalem,  in  the  reign  of  Hezekiah. 

I  :  2-9.  The  forlorn  condition  of  Jerusalem  (vs.  8),  the  havoc 
wrought  in  Judah  (vs.  7),  and  the  fact  that  this  havoc  is  wrought 

23 


I  :  2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Prophefs  Indignant  Lament  over  the  Unfaithfulness  of 
the  People  to  their  God  (i  :  2-9) 

2.  Hear,  O  heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth, 

For  the  Lord  hath  spoken ; 
I  have  nourished  and  brought  up  children, 
And  they  have  rebelled  against  me. 

3.  The  ox  knoweth  his  owner, 

And  the  ass  his  master's  crib  ; 
But  Israel  doth  not  know, 

by  strangers  (vs.  7),  seem  to  point  to  the  invasion  of  the  country 
by  Sennacherib  and  the  Ass3^rians  in  701  B.C.  In  that  case,  this 
would  be  one  of  the  very  latest  of  Isaiah's  prophecies,  and  the 
chapter  would  serve,  as  it  were,  the  purpose  of  a  frontispiece  to 
the  book. 

2.  The  book  grandly  opens  with  a  few  brief,  sad  words  of 
Jehovah  himself,  in  which  he  laments  his  people's  ignorance, 
ingratitude,  and  infidehty  —  words  of  such  high  and  serious  im- 
port that  the  prophet  calls  upon  the  heavens  to  hear,  and  the  earth 
to  hearken :  for  heaven  and  earth  are  silent  witnesses  of  the  great 
human  drama,  and  are  here  poetically  conceived  as  capable  of 
being  moved  by  the  sight  and  the  story  of  Israel's  guilt  —  awful 
witnesses  of  an  awful  crime. 

Jehovah  hath  spoken :  and  the  quickened  conscience  of  the 
prophet,  as  he  watched  and  pondered  the  conduct  of  his  sinful 
people,  heard  the  words  plainly  enough. 

Sons  have  I  reared,  and  lifted  to  Jionor; 
But  as  for  them,  they  are  rebels  against  me. 

The  love  of  Jehovah  for  his  children  had  been  signally  manifested 
in  the  exodus  (cf.  Hos.  11  :  i ;  9 :  10),  but  that  love  had  followed 
them  into  Canaan,  and  had  there  exalted  them  by  giving  them  vic- 
tory in  war,  a  high  place  among  the  nations,  healthful  institutions, 
—  in  particular,  the  institutions  of  religion  (cf.  Deut.  4  :  6).  But 
they  (emphatic  in  the  Hebrew)  —  those  very  children  whom  he 
had  thus  reared  and  honored  —  have  played  the  rebel,  in  ways 
which  are  illustrated  but  too  vividly  by  the  subsequent  verses  of 
the  chapter  (cf.  vss.  15-23)  :  chiefly  by  violation  of  the  spirit  of 
justice  and  mercy  which  are  the  essence  of  true  religion  (cf.  Mic. 
6:8). 

3.  In  a  household,  the  domestic  animals  know  their  master; 

24 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  i  :  6 


My  people  doth  not  consider. 

4.  Ah  sinful  nation, 

A  people  laden  with  iniquity, 
A  seed  of  evil-doers, 

Children  that  deal  corruptly : 
They  have  forsaken  the  Lord, 

They  have  despised  the  Holy  One  of  Israel, 

They  are  estranged  and  gone  backward. 

5.  Why  will  ye  be  still  stricken. 

That  ye  revolt  more  and  more  ? 
The  whole  head  is  sick. 
And  the  whole  heart  faint. 

6.  From  the  sole  of  the  foot  even  unto  the  head 

There  is  no  soundness  in  it ; 
But  wounds,  and  bruises. 
And  ^  festering  sores  : 

'  AV  putrifying  sores.        m,  SV  fresh  stripes. 

how  much  more  the  children  their  father !  But  Israel,  though 
my  people,  a  family  of  sons  for  whom  Jehovah  had  done  so  much 
(vs.  2),  does  not  know;  they  are  more  stupid  than  the  ox  or  ass. 
Ignorance  of  God  and  of  the  true  nature  of  his  demands  as  moral 
and  not  ceremonial  (cf.  vss.  11-17)  was  responsible  for  the  deplo- 
rable condition  of  Israel  (cf.  Hos.  4:1). 

4.  The  calm  speech  of  Jehovah  is  followed  by  the  more  passion- 
ate utterance  of  his  prophet  (vss.  4-9),  who  now  addresses  the 
people  directly  (the  Greek  version  reads,  "  ye  have  forsaken  the 
Lord  and  provoked  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  ")  in  the  language  of 
indignant  reproach,  as  a  brood  of  malefactors,  who  despise  "  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel,"  Isaiah's  favorite  epithet  for  Jehovah.  Some- 
thing of  what  this  holiness  meant  may  be  gathered  from  Isaiah's 
inaugural  vision  (6  :  3). 

5a.  The  precise  meaning  of  the  first  clause  is  not  absolutely 
certain.  It  is  either  a  half-pathetic,  half-indignant  reproach  of 
their  folly  for  their  persistent  depravity,  "  Why  will  ye  still  be 
smitten?  "  or  the  words  may  mean  that  the  body  has  already  been 
so  thoroughly  battered  and  bruised  that  there  is  no  place  left  for 
a  further  blow  :  "  On  what  spot  can  ye  still  he  smitten?  " 

Sb,  6.    Here,  as  frequently  in  the  Old  Testament  (cf.  Ezek.  16), 

25 


I  :  7  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


They  have  not  been  closed,  neither  bound  up, 
Neither  molhfied  with  ^  oil. 

7.  Your  country  is  desolate  ; 

Your  cities  are  burned  with  fire  ; 
Your  land,  strangers  devour  it  in  your  presence, 
And  it  is  desolate,  as  overthrown  by  strangers. 

8.  And  the  daughter  of  Zion  is  left 

1  AV  ointment. 


the  nation  is  regarded  as  a  person.  It  is  "bruised  and  wounded, 
sick,  and  faint ;  the  head  and  heart  are  specially  mentioned  as  the 
most  vital  members.  They  have  not  been  closed :  the  meaning  is 
probably  that  the  matter  has  not  been  pressed  out  of  the  wounds. 
Jehovah  is  the  great  physician  who  alone  can  heal  them.  But 
they  have  rebelled  (vs.  2),  and  revolted  (vs.  5),  so  they  remain 
unhealed.  These  verses  might  be  a  description  of  the  corrupt 
state  of  the  body  politic ;  but  after  the  reference  to  the  further 
strokes  in  prospect  (at  the  beginning  of  vs.  5),  the}^  are  more 
naturally  explained,  in  accordance  with  vs.  7,  as  a  description  of 
the  effect  of  the  Assyrian  invasion  of  Judah.  It  was  this  that  had 
bruised  and  wounded  the  country,  and  left  it  in  a  state  of  unhealed 
misery. 

7.  A  graphic  description,  apparently,  of  the  desolation  wrought 
in  Judah  by  Sennacherib  and  the  Assyrians  in  701  B.C.  In  his 
inscription,  Sennacherib  claims  to  have  taken  forty-six  of  the  cities 
of  Judah.  The  strangers  who  destroy  the  land,  i.e.  the  culti- 
vated land,  are  the  Assyrians  ;  and  the  desolation  they  have  wrought 
in  Judah  is  comparable  only  to  ''  the  overthrow  of  Sodom"  as 
we  should  probably  read  (rather  than  strangers)  at  the  end  of  the 
verse.  The  story  of  the  fate  of  Sodom  (Gen.  19)  left  an  indehble 
impression  upon  the  Hebrew  mind,  and  was  often  used  by  the 
prophets  to  heighten  the  terror  of  a  threat  or  a  description.  (Cf. 
Amos  4  :  11.)  The  last  sentence  is  regarded  by  some  recent  schol- 
ars as  a  gloss. 

8.  In  the  invasion  of  701  B.C.  Jerusalem  was,  in  the  most 
wonderful  way  and  against  all  probability,  preserved,  as  Isaiah 
had  foretold  (cf.  37  :  29).  But  Sennacherib  claims,  in  his  inscrip- 
tion, to  have  shut  up  Hezekiah  "  hke  a  bird  in  a  cage,"  and  the 
position  of  Jerusalem  must  have  been  desperate  enough.  Through 
the  imagery  of  this  verse  we  get  a  glimpse  of  her  forlorn  and  help- 
less case.     The  daughter  of  Zion,  i.e.  Zion  or  Jerusalem  herself, 

26 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


1:9 


As  a  booth  in  a  vineyard, 
As  a  lodge  in  a  garden  of  cucumbers, 

As  a  besieged  city. 
Except  the  Lord  of  hosts 

Had  left  unto  us  a  very  small  remnant, 
We  should  have  been  as  Sodom, 

We  should  have  been  like  unto  Gomorrah. 


Rom.  9  :  29 


personified  as  a  woman,  is  left  like  a  booth  in  a  vineyard,  like  a 
lodge  in  a  field  of  cucumbers.  The  booth  or  lodge  was  a  simple 
and  rather  flimsy  structure,  which  served  as  a  temporary  shelter 
for  the  men  who  watched  and  guarded  the  fields ;  it  well  suggests 
the  lonehness  and  defencelessness  of  Jerusalem  at  a  time  when 
city  after  city  of  Judah  was  falling  before  the  Assyrians.  As 
Jerusalem  actually  was  at  this  time  a  besieged  city  and  not 
merely  like  one,  the  last  comparison  should  perhaps  be  translated, 
like  a  watch-tower,  a  figure  which  would  practically  repeat  and 
clinch  the  other  two. 

9.  In  the  havoc  wrought  upon  Judah,  Jerusalem  is  providen- 
tially left  as  a  remnant.  The  idea  of  the  remnant  (though  the 
word  here  used  is  not  Isaiah's  habitual  word)  plays  an  important 
part  in  the  thought  and  teaching  of  the  prophet.  Jerusalem  was 
spared,  according  to  Isaiah,  not  by  accident,  but  by  Providence; 
it  was  the  work  of  Jehovah  of  hosts  —  a  phrase  which,  originally 
used  perhaps  to  designate  Jehovah  as  the  lord  and  leader  of  the 
hosts  of  heaven  {i.e.  the  stars  conceived  as  human  beings)  and 
subsequently  of  the  hosts  or  armies  of  Israel,  comes,  in  the  proph- 
ets, to  have  a  more  comprehensive  sweep,  and  marks  him  out  as 
lord  of  the  universe.  We  should  perhaps  transfer  the  word  ren- 
dered very  small  to  the  next  sentence,  and  read : 

Had  Jehovah  of  hosts  not  left  us  a  remnant, 
Almost  had  we  been  as  Sodom  and  like  to  Gomorrah. 

The  sin  of  Judah  and  the  devastation  which  was  sent  by  way  of 
penalty  have  been  vividly  set  forth.  The  people  may  have  re- 
sented the  prophet's  interpretation  of  their  calamities,  and 
pointed  to  the  splendor  and  assiduity  of  their  worship.  To  their 
protest  he  replies  in  the  next  paragraph. 

I  :  10-17,  The  prophet's  message  of  doom  sounded  in  the  ears 
of  the  people  as  a  heresy.  Was  not  their  worship  of  the  most 
earnest  and  sumptuous  sort  ?  Surely  Jehovah  could  never  destroy 
the  people  who  served  him  so  scrupulously.  But  to  Isaiah  and  the 
people  the  service  of  Jehovah  meant  two  very  different  things : 

27 


I  :  10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Futility  of  a  merely  Ceremonial  Worship  (i  :  10-17) 

10.  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord, 

Ye  rulers  of  Sodom  ; 
Give  ear  unto  the  law  of  our  God 
Ye  people  of  Gomorrah. 

11.  To  what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacri- 

fices unto  me  ? 

Saith  the  Lord. 
I  am  full  of  the  burnt  offerings  of  rams, 

And  the  fat  of  fed  beasts  ; 
And  I  deHght  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks, 

Or  of  lambs,  or  of  he-goats. 

to  them  it  was  a  ritual  thing,  to  him  a  moral.  This  great  section 
shows  how  completely  the  prophets  despised  a  rehgion  which  was 
exhausted  in  ritual,  and  how  earnestly  they  championed  morality 
as  the  supreme  expression  of  religion. 

10.  Through  the  imperative  hear  we  get  a  glimpse  of  a  great  and 
eager  crowd  of  worshippers  gathered  in  the  temple  courts.  The 
prophet  addresses  the  worshippers  —  leaders  and  people  alike  — 
as  citizens  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  The  idea  is  not  so  much 
that  the  fate  of  Jerusalem  will  be  like  theirs,  as  that  her  guilt  is 
Hke  theirs,  as  though  the  two  really  go  together  —  Hke  in  guilt,  and 
like  in  destiny.  This  is,  of  course,  the  language  of  prophetic 
hyperbole  ;  in  point  of  fact,  the  sins  of  which  Jerusalem  was  guilty, 
as  enumerated,  e.g.,  in  vs.  17,  were  not  so  terrible  as  the  sins  of 
Sodom  (cf.  Gen.  13  :  13  ;  19  :  5  £F.).  But  the  strong  language  shows 
how  utterly  abominable  to  the  soul  of  a  prophet  is  a  religion  which 
cares  everything  for  ritual,  and  nothing  for  morals.  The  law  of 
our  God  has  here  nothing  to  do  with  any  written  law,  such  as  we 
find  in  the  Pentateuch.  Law  is  instruction,  and  is  here,  as  the 
parallelism  shows,  identical  with  the  word  of  Jehovah,  that  is,  the 
word  which  he  speaks  through  his  prophet  Isaiah  —  practically 
it  is  the  challenge  which  follows  in  vss.  11-17. 

11.  The  people  addressed  by  Isaiah  are  a  zealous  people,  who 
offer  a  multitude  of  sacrifices :  probably  their  zeal  was  at  this 
period  heightened  by  the  fear  of  Assyria.  The  sacrifice  is  here  a 
general  word  for  the  offering  of  a  slain  animal ;  it  might  be  offered 
to  the  deity  in  whole,  as  a  burnt  offering  entirely  consumed  upon 
the  altar,  or  in  part,  as  the  fat  and  the  blood.  Beasts  of  several 
kinds  were  offered,  Jehovah  is  sated  with  them  ;  but  what  is  it  all 

28 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  i  :  12 


12.  When  ye  come  to  appear  before  me, 

Who  hath  required  this  at  your  hand, 

to  him?  That  is  not  what  he  desires  or  delights  in.  In  their 
conception  of  religion,  the  great  prophets  appear  to  have  given 
practically  no  place  whatever  to  animal  sacrifice,  which  bulked  so 
largely  in  the  popular  conception ;  to  them  the  sacrifice  of  the 
will  was  paramount  (Ps.  40:6-8).  Amos  (5:  25)  and  Jeremiah 
(7  :  22)  maintain  that  animal  sacrifice  had  formed  no  part  of  the 
divine  demand  in  the  days  of  the  Exodus  —  then  and  now  and 
ever,  what  God  requires  of  man  is  a  moral  service  (Micah  6  :  6-8), 
mercy,  and  not  sacrifice  (Hos.  6:6).  It  is  not  surprising  that  this 
word  of  Hosea's,  which  so  aptly  crystalHzes  the  prophetic  concep- 
tion of  religion,  was  specially  dear  to  our  Lord  (Mat.  9  :  13;  12  :  7). 
12,  13a.  Metrical  and  other  considerations  seem  to  suggest 
that  the  last  clause  of  vs.  12  should  be  taken  with  vs.  13.  The 
treading  of  the  courts  could  not  in  any  case  be  required  of  the 
hands.     We  should  probably  therefore  translate : 

When  ye  come  to  behold  my  face, 

Who  hath  required  this  at  your  hands? 

Trample  my  courts  no  more, 
Bring  offerings  {no  more). 

Vain  is  the  smoke  of  sacrifice, 
It  is  an  abomination  to  me. 

The  present  Hebrew  text  is  pointed,  against  the  grammar,  to 
mean  :  "  when  ye  come  to  appear,  or  show  yourselves,  before  me." 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  Hebrew  words  origi- 
nally meant  and  were  intended  to  mean :  "  when  ye  come  to  see 
my  face  "  —  a  phrase  which  carries  one  back  to  a  time  when  God 
was  conceived  as  a  man,  and  mortals  were  supposed  to  speak  to 
him,  and  see  him  face  to  face,  though  in  Isaiah's  time  the  phrase 
can  have  meant  little  more  than  turning  the  face  in  the  direction 
of  the  inner  shrine  of  the  sanctuary,  where  the  presence  of  Jehovah 
was  supposed  uniquely  to  be.  Even  so,  however,  the  anthropo- 
morphic flavor  of  the  phrase  was  objectionable  to  the  austere 
theologians  of  a  later  date,  and  the  word  was  pointed  as  a  passive, 
or  rather  middle,  not  active,  so  as  to  suggest  that  the  people  ap- 
peared or  showed  themselves,  and  thus  to  eliminate  the  idea  of 
beholding  the  divine  face.  Similar  liberties  are  not  infrequently 
taken  with  the  original  text,  sometimes  by  the  later  Jews  who 
pointed  the  consonantal  text,  sometimes  much  earlier  still  by  the 
Greek-speaking  translators,  who,  for  example,  in  Exod.  24 :  10, 
transform  "  they  saw  the  God  of  Israel  "  into  "  they  saw  the  place 
where  the  God  of  Israel  stood." 

Who  hath  required  this  —  that  is,  such  sacrifices  as  are  men- 

29 


13  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


To  trample  my  courts  ? 

13.  Bring  no  more  vain  oblations. 
Incense  is  an  abomination  unto  me  ; 

New  moon  and  sabbath,  the  calling  of  assembHes,  — 
I  cannot  away  with 

^  Iniquity  and  the  solemn  meeting. 

14.  Your  new  moons  and  your  appointed  feasts 

1  Gr.  fasting. 


tioned  in  the  preceding  verse  —  at  your  hand  ?  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  there  was  an  ancient  law  which  did  require  that  no  wor- 
shipper should  appear  empty-handed  (Exod.  23  :  15  ;  34  :  20).  The 
prophetic  conception  of  rehgion,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
different. 

It  is  difficult  to  decide  between  Bring  no  more  a  vain  offering: 
the  smoke  of  sacrifice  is  an  abomination  to  me,  and  Bring  no  more 
offerings:  vain  is  the  smoke  of  sacrifice,  it  is  an  abomination  to  we. 
The  latter  is  more  drastic  and  is  probably  to  be  preferred.  Ofifer- 
ing  here  is  a  general  word  covering  animal  sacrifice,  though  in  the 
later  law  the  term  was  confined  to  the  bloodless  sacrifice. 

13b,  14.  Not  only  are  the  sacrifices  detestable,  but  the  very 
holy  days  themselves,  of  which  the  new  moon  and  the  sabbath 
(frequently  mentioned  together,  cf.  Amos  8:  5,  Hos.  2:  11)  are 
specially  singled  out.  The  new  moon  must  have  been  a  very 
ancient  festival,  and  goes  back  to  Israel's  nomadic  days :  the 
sabbath,  apparently  of  Babylonian  origin,  was  probably  first 
domesticated  among  the  Hebrews  —  and,  in  the  process,  trans- 
formed —  in  the  agricultural  period  that  followed  their  entrance 
into  Canaan.  We  can  hardly  suppose  that  the  holy  days  are 
objectionable  in  themselves,  but  simply  as  affording  opportunity 
for  the  convocation  of  the  immoral  worshippers.  After  I  cannot 
perhaps  the  word  bear  should  be  suppKed  (there  is  no  equivalent 
for  away  with  in  the  Hebrew) :  New  moon  and  sabbath,  solemn 
convocation,  I  cannot  bear.  The  last  two  Hebrew  words  of 
vs.  13  might  be  translated  wickedness  and  worship  (lit.  iniquity  and 
sacred  assembly),  and  would  give  a  fine  epigrammatic  point  to  the 
verse.  For  "  iniquity,"  however,  the  Greek  version  r e&ds  fasting, 
and  this  is  possibly  correct.  Participation  in  the  act  of  worship  or 
communion  with  the  deity  was  often  preceded  by  preparatory 
fasting,  so  that  the  two  words  together  might  indicate  a  certain 
scrupulous  piety.     This  kind  of  piety,  however,  offered  by  wor- 

30 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  i  :  17 


My  soul  hateth : 
They  are  a  trouble  unto  me ; 
I  am  weary  to  bear  them. 

15.  And  when  ye  spread  forth  your  hands, 

I  will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you  : 
Yea,  when  ye  make  many  prayers, 

I  will  not  hear: 
Your  hands  are  full  of  blood. 

16.  Wash  you,  make  you  clean  ; 
Put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings 

From  before  mine  eyes ; 
Cease  to  do  evil : 

17.  Learn  to  do  well 
Seek  judgement, 

shippers  with  hands  full  of  blood  (vs.  15),  my  soid  hateth.  The 
appointed  feasts  are  the  festivals  determined  by  the  season  of  the 
year  (Gen.  i:  14).  The  sacred  seasons  and  sacrifices  lie  upon 
Jehovah  like  a  burden  which  wearies  him ;  his  patience  is  exhausted 
and  he  will  bear  it  no  more. 

15.  Prayer  is  a  higher  expression  of  religion  than  animal  sacri- 
fice; but  their  prayers,  passionately  offered  with  outstretched 
hands,  are  as  detestable  as  their  sacrifices,  because  in  their  social 
relations  they  show  neither  mercy  nor  justice  (vss.  16,  17).  Je- 
hovah will  not  hear  the  prayers  of  such  men,  however  many  or 
passionate  they  be :  he  will  hide  his  eyes  as  a  man  does,  who  re- 
fuses to  grant  a  request  (Prov.  28  :  27). 

16.  The  last  clause  of  vs.  15  should  go  with  vs.  16  : 

Your  hands  are  full  of  blood, 
Wash,  cleanse  yourselves. 

The  blood  which  stained  their  hands  vividly  suggests  the  violence 
which  those  unscrupulous  hypocrites  did  not  hesitate  to  use,  in 
order  to  compass  their  nefarious  ends.  The  hands  outstretched 
in  prayer  are  red.  Hands  and  hearts  sorely  need  to  be  cleansed. 
The  God  whom  they  worshipped  was  not  blind  to  the  immorality 
of  their  social  life:  "  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before 
mine  eyes.'''' 

17.  The  vague  phrases,  cease  to  do  evil,  learn  to  do  well  — 
whether  part  of  the  original  text  or  not  —  receive  at  any  rate 
much  more  concrete  and  definite  expression  in  the  four  following 

31 


I  :  i8  THE  BOOK  OF  ISMAH 


Relieve  the  oppressed, 
Judge  the  fatherless, 
Plead  for  the  widow. 

The  Great  Alternatives  (i  :  18-20) 

18.  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together, 

Saith  the  Lord  ; 
Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet. 
They  shall  be  as  white  as  snow  ; 

phrases,  which  show  that  what  Isaiah  means  by  good  is  justice  and 
mercy  as  applied  to  social  relations,  "  seek  justice."  Probably 
instead  of  relieve  the  oppressed,  we  should  translate  restrain 
(or,  by  the  change  of  a  letter,  chastise)  the  man  of  violence.  The 
fatherless  and  the  widow,  having  no  natural  defenders,  would  fall 
an  easy  pre}^  to  the  unscrupulous ;  but  Israel's  God  is  on  the  side 
of  the  weak,  and  those  who  worship  him  truly  are  like  him  in  their 
regard  for  the  defenceless.  True  religion,  according  to  Isaiah, 
consists  not  in  offering  animal  sacrifice,  but  in  defending  the  rights 
of  the  weak,  especially  when  they  were  assailed  by  avarice  and 
imperilled  by  unjust  legal  processes.  The  truest  expression  of 
religion  is  justice  and  pity  in  our  relations  with  our  fellow-men 
(cf.  Js.  I  :  27). 

I  :  18-20.  An  invitation  is  given  by  Jehovah  to  the  people  to 
come  —  before  a  court,  as  it  were,  in  which  each  party  may  argue 
his  case.  In  point  of  fact,  it  is  only  Jehovah  who  speaks ;  he  lays 
down  the  terms  of  acceptance  and  rejection  —  terms  which  the  con- 
science of  the  people  must  admit  to  be  reasonable. 

18.  Though  your  sins  (such  as  are  described  or  implied  in  vss. 
15-17,  21,  etc.)  be  as  scarlet,  etc.  This  looks  hke  a  promise  of 
forgiveness  —  the  red  sin  (cf.  vs.  15)  will  be  washed  white  (though, 
in  vs.  16,  the  washing  was  to  be  done  by  themselves).  It  must  be 
admitted,  however,  that,  considering  the  dreadful  state  of  Jeru- 
salem as  disclosed  alike  by  the  preceding  and  the  following  verses 
(21  ff .),  so  emphatic  an  assurance  of  forgiveness,  especially  at  the  very 
beginning  of  Jehovah's  argument,  comes  as  an  abrupt  surprise  — 
softened  indeed,  somewhat,  by  reading  back  into  vs.  18  the  condi- 
tions laid  down  in  vss.  19  and  20.  This  difficulty  has  led  some 
scholars  to  take  the  second  clauses  as  stinging  and  indignant  ques- 
tions: "  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  shall  they  he  ivhite  as  snow? 
.  .  .  shall  they  he  as  wool?  "  with  the  implied  answer,  "  Nay, 
verily."     Red  sins  cannot  be  so  easily  washed  out  as  a  frivolous 

32 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  i  :2i 


Though  they  be  red  Hke  crimson 
They  shall  be  as  wool. 

19.  If  ye  be  willing  and  obedient, 

Ye  shall  eat  the  good  of  the  land  : 

20.  But  if  ye  refuse  and  rebel, 

Ye  shall  be  devoured  with  the  sword. 

For  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

Zion's  Present  Shame  and  Future  Glory  (i  :  21-28) 

21.  How  is  the  faithful  city 

Become  an  harlot ! 
She  that  was  full  of  judgement ! 

people  may  imagine  (cf.  Hos.  6 :  1-4).  The  common  interpreta- 
tion of  the  verse  may,  however,  perhaps  be  retained,  for  the  next 
two  verses  make  it  very  plain  that  the  forgiveness  is  not  uncondi- 
tionally oilered.  Crimson,  the  Hebrew  word  denotes  primarily  the 
insect  from  which  the  color  was  obtained: 

19  f.  Note  how,  as  so  often  in  the  Old  Testament,  penitence  and 
obedience  are  represented  as  being  rewarded  by  material  pros- 
perity —  the  good  of  the  land  —  and  disobedience  by  disaster,  here 
the  disaster  of  war  :  "  ye  shall  be  made  to  taste  the  sword,"  meaning 
"  the  sword  shall  devour  you."  Apparently,  when  these  verses 
were  spoken,  an  invasion  was  impending  and  the  prophet  seizes 
the  opportunity  to  lead  the  people  to  repentance. 

I  :  21-28.  This  little  poem  in  Hebrew  elegiac  metre  (generally 
with  three  accents  in  the  first  line  and  two  in  the  second,  thus : 

How  is  the  faithful  city 
Become  a  harlot!) 

repeats  in  more  pathetic  words  the  charges  already  made  against 
Jerusalem,  and  contrasts  her  present  shame  with  the  glory  that 
will  be  hers  when  she  is  redeemed  from  her  sin. 

21.  The  prophet  looks  wistfully  back  to  the  early  da3's  of 
Jerusalem's  history,  the  times  of  David  and  Solomon,  when  she 
was  a  faithful  city,  faithful  to  the  principles  of  right  and  justice, 
with  which  Jehovah  is  peculiarly  identified  (vss.  16,  17) ;  now  she 
is  a  harlot,  that  is,  unfaithful  to  those  principles.  She  may  be 
faithful  enough  in  offering  her  animal  sacrifices  (vss.  11  ff.) ;  but 
it  is  her  attitude  to  what  is  socially  just  and  right  that  is  the  real 
test  of  her  fidelity  to  her  God. 

D  33 


I  :  22  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Righteousness  lodged  in  her, 
But  now  murderers. 

22.  Thy  silver  is  become  dross, 

Thy  wine  mixed  with  water. 

23.  Thy  princes  are  rebellious, 

And  companions  of  thieves  : 
Every  one  loveth  gifts. 

And  followeth  after  rewards  : 
They  judge  not  the  fatherless. 

Neither  doth  the  cause  of  the  widow  come  unto  them. 

24.  Therefore  saith  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

The  Mighty  One  of  Israel, 
Ah,  I  will  ease  me  of  mine  adversaries, 
And  avenge  me  of  mine  enemies  : 

25.  And  I  will  turn  my  hand  upon  thee, 
And  thoroughly  purge  away  thy  dross, 

And  will  take  away  all  thy  tin  :        j 

22.  The  contrast  between  then  and  now  is  pitiful.  Then  it  was 
silver,  now  it  is  dross  ;  then  pure  wine,  now  adulterated.  The 
silver  and  the  wine  probably  refer  to  the  "  justice  and  right  " 
of  vs.  21  —  corrupted  now  by  the  venal  practices  of  the  judges. 

23.  This  verse  gives  a  concrete  picture  of  the  deterioration, 
which  consists,  as  in  vs.  17,  in  the  unblushing  disregard  of  justice 
and  mercy.  The  princes  represent  officialdom :  in  the  Hebrew 
sentence,  there  is,  as  often  (cf.  Hos.  9  :  15),  a  play  upon  words  — 
*'  thy  rulers  are  unruly  "  (Cheyne),  thy  rulers  are  rebels.  They 
were  responsible,  in  part,  for  the  administration  of  justice,  but 
instead  of  suppressing  crime  they  actually  abetted  it  by  accepting 
bribes,  and  so  made  themselves  the  confederates  of  contemptible 
thieves.  Worst  of  all,  they  ignore  the  rights  of  the  defenceless 
orphan  and  widow  (vs.  17). 

24.  There  can  be  no  hope  for  a  city  with  officials  like  these ; 
enemies  of  right,  they  are  enemies  of  God,  and  he  must  get  rid  of 
them.  He  is  Israel's  strong  one,  who  will  use  his  strength  to  take 
vengeance  upon  them. 

25.  The  process  by  which  the  city  is  to  be  purified  is  compared 
to  the  smelting  of  impure  ore.  Jehovah  turns  his  mighty  hand  in 
judgment  against  the  city.  I  will  purge  thy  dross  as  with  lye  — 
a  vegetable  alkali,  which  was  used  to  help  the  process  of  smelting 

34 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  i  :  28 


26.  And  I  will  restore  thy  judges  as  at  the  first, 

And  thy  counsellors  as  at  the  beginning  : 
Afterward  thou  shalt  be  called  The  City  of  Righteous- 
ness, 
The  Faithful  City. 

27.  Zion  shall  be  redeemed  with  judgement, 

And  her  converts  with  righteousness. 

28.  But  the  destruction  of  the  transgressors  and  the  sinners 

shall  be  together. 
And   they   that   forsake  the  Lord   shall   be   con- 
sumed. 

and  separation  —  and  all  thine  alloy  I  will  remove,  that  Jerusalem 
might  again  become  the  pure  silver  which  she  had  been  at  the 
first  (vs.  22).  Instead  of  as  with  lye,  we  may  read,  by  a  very  simple 
change,  "  I  will  purge  away  thy  dross  in  the  furnace." 

26.  The  result  of  this  smelting  process,  with  its  consequent 
removal  of  the  dross,  would  be  the  restoration  of  Jerusalem  to  its 
pristine  purity.  And  as  the  rulers,  and  in  particular  the  adminis- 
trators of  justice,  were  largely  responsible  for  her  decadence  (vs. 
23),  so,  in  the  restoration,  their  places  would  be  taken  by  men  wor- 
thy of  the  ancient  regime;  and  then  Jerusalem,  once  more  the 
home  of  right  and  justice  (vs.  21),  would  again  deserve  the 
name  Faithful  City  —  the  name  with  which  the  elegy  began 
(vs.  21). 

27  f.  With  vs.  26,  which  is  an  echo  of  vs.  21,  the  poem  is  admira- 
bly rounded  off.  Vss.  27,  28,  the  terms  of  which  are  more  general 
and  less  concrete,  may  have  been  added  at  a  later  date ;  but  they 
are  thoroughly  appropriate  to  the  spirit  of  the  preceding  poem, 
contemplating  as  they  do  the  salvation  of  Zion  and  the  destruction 
of  the  rebels.  Here  it  is  apparently  not  to  her  own  (cf.  vs.  21), 
but  to  the  divine  justice  and  righteousness  that  Zion  and  her  con- 
verts owe  their  redemption. 

I  :  29-31.  This  section  gives  us  a  glimpse  into  the  old  heathen 
worship  of  trees  and  springs,  which  persisted  among  the  people 
despite  all  prophetic  preaching  and  which  even  yet  is  not  dead. 
In  65  :  3 ;  66  :  17,  passages  which  are  almost  certainly  post-exilic, 
there  is  a  similar  reference  to  gardens  as  the  seats  of  idolatrous 
worship;  but,  considering  the  reverence  with  which  "sacred" 
trees  were  always  regarded,  this  practice  may  well  have  been  com- 
mon in  Isaiah's  time,  and  this  scathing  condemnation  may  have 
come  from  the  prophet  himself. 

35 


I  :  29  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Heathen  Cult  and  Its  Doom  (i  :  29-31) 

29.  For^  they  shall  be  ashamed  of  the  oaks  which  ye  have 

desired, 
And  ye  shall  be  confounded  for  the  gardens  that  ye 
have  chosen. 

30.  For  ye  shall  be  as  an  oak  whose  leaf  fadeth, 

And  as  a  garden  that  hath  no  water. 

31.  And  the  strong  shall  be  as  tow,  and  his  work  as  a  spark  ; 

And  they  shall  both  burn  together,  and  none  shall 
quench  them. 

Jerusalem,  the  Centre  of  Blessing  to  the  World  (2  :  1-5) 

2.     The  word  that  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz  saw  concern- 
ing Judah  and  Jerusalem. 

1  Some  Hebrew  MSB.  read  ye.     Gr.  reads  tkey  throughout  in  vss.  29-31. 

29.  The  change  in  vs.  29  from  the  third  person  to  the  second 
is  strange  and  difficult  to  explain  naturally :  apparently  we  must 
read  throughout  the  section  either  the  third  person  or  the  second, 
"  Ye  shall  be  ashamed  of  the  oaks  which  ye  have  desired,  and  ye 
shall  be  confounded,"  etc.  Their  heathenish  worship  would  lead 
to  nothing  but  disappointment. 

30.  The  withered  leaves  of  the  tree  and  the  vanished  waters  of 
the  spring  were  proofs  of  the  impotence  of  the  deities  who  were 
supposed  to  haunt  them,  and  symbols  of  the  fate  of  those  who 
worshipped  there.  "  In  Palestine,  for  the  most  part,  the  presence 
of  a  spring,  or  a  capacious  cistern,  was  essential  to  the  existence 
of  a  garden"  (Hastings,  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  ii,  109);  hence  the 
pathos  of  the  garden  that  hath  no  water. 

31.  These  idolaters,  strong  in  their  own  eyes  as  the  oaks  (cf. 
Amos  2  :  9)  which  they  worship,  are  doomed,  with  all  their  works 
and  devices,  to  irrevocable  destruction  —  pictured  here  as  a  judg- 
ment of  fire. 

2  :  1-5.  This  beautiful  picture  of  Jerusalem  in  "the  issue  of  the 
days,"  when  the  whole  world  would  recognize  her  unique  religious 
supremacy,  and  flock  to  her  to  have  difficult  cases  settled  by  the 

36 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  2:2 


2.      And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  latter  days, 

That  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be 
estabhshed 
^  In  the  top  of  the  mountains, 
■    And  shall  be  exalted  above  the  hills ; 

'  Gr.  adds  and  the  house  of  God. 

arbitration  of  her  God  and  his  laws,  forms  a  very  effective  contrast 
to  the  picture  of  the  sinful  city  with  which  Chap,  i  opened,  and  of 
the  description  of  the  idolatries  with  which  it  closed.  In  spite  of 
the  new  superscription  (vs.  i ;  cf.  1:1)  which  shows  that  the 
chapters  introduced  by  it  (probably  Chaps.  2-4)  once  formed  an 
independent  group  and  circulated  separately,  the  present  setting 
of  the  passage  strongly  suggests  that  it  was  originally  intended  as  a 
foil  to  the  descriptions  of  the  real  Jerusalem  in  Chap,  i,  like  the 
corresponding  passage  in  Micah  4  :  1-4  ;  it  would  certainly  form  a 
happy  conclusion  to  the  first  group  of  prophecies  (i  :  1-2  :  5). 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  the  connection  is  between  this  passage 
and  the  similar  passage  in  Micah  4  :  1-4.  Either  Isaiah  borrowed 
from  Micah,  or  Micah  from  Isaiah,  or  both  from  an  older  proph- 
ecy, or  in  both  cases  the  passage  is  a  later  insertion.  For  several 
reasons  the  last  suppositi.on  seems,  on  the  whole,  the  most  prob- 
able. 

1.  Cf.  i:  I. 

2.  In  the  latter  days.  The  true  prophet  looks  frankly  at  the  pres- 
ent (cf.  Chap,  i),  but  his  eyes  are  no  less  fixed  upon  the  future. 
Beyond  these  days,  he  sees  the  days  that  come  after  ;  and  the  phrase 
"  the  after-days,"  the  sequel  or  "  issue  of  the  days,"  naturally 
came  to  acquire  an  almost  technical  meaning,  and  was  used  to 
indicate  what  we  commonly  speak  of  as  the  Messianic  age,_  the 
happy,  righteous  era  which  would  succeed  the  wretched  and  sinful 
age  that  now  is.  In  this  striking  passage,  it  is  regarded  as  an  age 
in  which  war  shall  be  no  more  (cf.  9  :  5)  and  the  disputes  of  the 
nations  will  be  settled  by  arbitration. 

The  Greek  version  and  the  parallelism  in  vs.  3  suggest  that  the 
original  text  ran  thus  : 

The  mount  of  Jehovah  shall  he  firmly  established, 
And  the  house  of  our  God  on  the  chief  of  the  mountains. 

The  reference  is  to  the  temple  and  the  temple  hill.  Jerusalem 
is  the  religious  capital  of  the  world,  the  temple  the  most  sacred 
thing  in  Jerusalem,  the  house  of  our  God,  and  the  temple  hill  the 
chief  mountain  in  the  world,  the  head  of  the  mountains.     This  is 

37 


2  :  3  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it, 

3.  And  many  peoples  shall  go  and  say, 

''Come    ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of 
the  Lord, 

To  the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob; 
And  he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways. 

And  we  will  walk  in  his  paths  : 
For  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law. 

And  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem." 

4.  And  he  shall  judge  between  the  nations, 

And  shall  reprove  many  peoples, 
And  they  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plowshares, 

the  vision  of  a  patriot.  The  translation  in  the  text  of  SV,  "  on  the 
top  of  the  mountains,"  is  too  grotesque  to  be  probable;  ''  at  the 
top  or  head  "  (SVm)  is  more  likely,  especially  as  later  writers  do 
actually  appear  to  have  anticipated  a  physical  elevation  of  Zion, 
which,  according  to  Ezek.  40 :  2,  for  example,  is  a  very  high 
mountain  —  it  is  to  tower  above  the  other  hills.  In  any  case, 
however,  the  real  greatness  of  Zion  in  this  passage  is  her  spiritual 
elevation ;  in  knowledge  of  the  right,  in  appreciation  of  the 
divine  will,  she  towers  above  all  other  nations  of  the  world,  who 
have  to  come  (to  stream)  to  her  for  instruction. 

3.  The  nations  are  represented  as  recognizing  the  rehgious  su- 
premacy of  Jerusalem :  she  has  what  they  have  not  —  a  divine 
word,  a  law,  that  is,  instruction  (cf.  i  :  10)  in  the  way  in  which  he 
would  have  them  walk.  Therefore  to  Jerusalem  they  go  "  that 
he  may  teach  "  them  through  the  medium  of  priest  or  prophet. 

4.  This  verse  explains  the  pilgrimage  of  the  nations  to  Zion. 
They  go  for  the  arbitration  of  difficult  cases,  which  they  would 
otherwise  have  settled  by  war.  The  pilgrims  are  men  famihar  with 
the  use  of  sword  and  spear ;  but  the  decision  which  they  receive 
in  Zion  is  so  just  and  satisfactory  that  they  destroy  their  weapons, 
for  which  they  have  now  no  more  use.  Or  rather  they  do  not 
destroy  them,  they  transform  them  into  useful  implements  of 
agriculture.  Here  we  get  a  glimpse  of  Israel's  love  for  the  coun- 
try life ;  in  the  golden  age,  ploughshares  and  pruning-hooks  will 
have  a  conspicuous  place.  Again  we  see  the  prophet's  horror  of 
war  —  in  the  better  world  to  be,  the  nations  shall  learn  war  no 
more  (cf.  9  :  5). 

38 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  2:6 


And  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks  : 
Nation  shall  not  Hft  up  sword  against  nation, 
Neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more. 

5.  O  house  of  Jacob,  come  ye,  and  let  us  walk  in  the 

light  of  the  Lord. 

Judgment  upon  the  Wealth  and  Pride  or  Judah 
(2  :  6-4  :  6) 

Jehovah'' s  Judgment  Day  (2  :  6-22) 

6.  For  ^  thou  hast  forsaken  thy  people 
The  house  of  Jacob, 

1  Gr.  he  lias  forsaken  his  people. 

5.  A  tender  appeal  to  Israel  herself  to  walk  in  the  light  of  the 
revelation  with  which  she  has  been  so  conspicuously  blessed. 

This  remarkable  passage  (vss.  2-5)  shows  how  practical,  as  well 
as  idealistic,  were  the  thinkers  of  Israel.  It  contains  in  germ  the 
solution  of  the  peace  problem.  War  will  be  no  more  when  the 
nations,  now  armed  to  the  teeth,  are  willing  to  submit  their  dis- 
putes to  the  arbitration  of  Zion ;  in  other  words,  when  they  are 
willing  to  have  them  decided  by  those  principles  of  justice  which 
were  never  more  earnestly  or  eloquently  proclaimed  than  by  the 
Hebrew  prophets,  and  which  are  identified  with  Jerusalem  as 
with  no  other  city  in  the  world.  The  passage  presupposes  nations 
which  will  be  reasonable  enough  to  seek  for  arbitration  from  a 
court  which  they  can  trust,  and  content  to  abide  by  the  decision 
when  it  is  pronounced. 

2  :  6-4:  6.  This  group  must  be  among  the  very  earliest  of  all 
Isaiah's  prophecies.  Part  of  it  falls  in  the  brief  reign  of  Jotham 
(740-736  B.C.)  soon  after  Uzziah's  death  (cf.  6:1);  the  brilKance, 
energy,  and  enterprise  of  Uzziah's  highly  prosperous  reign  are  felt 
through  the  prophet's  solemn  warnings  of  doom.  Part  of  the 
prophecy  may  come,  however,  from  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Ahaz  ;  3  :  12,  for  example,  seems  to  be  an  unmistakable  allusion  to 
that  irresolute  king.  We  cannot  go  far  wrong  in  assigning  at  least 
Chaps.  2  and  3  to  the  years  740-736  or  735  B.C. 

2:  6-22.  The  prosperous  enterprise  of  the  reign  of  Uzziah  has 
brought  to  Judah  the  luxury  and  the  superstition  of  the  East,  and 
engendered  in  her  a  temper  of  worldliness  and  pride.     For  all 

39 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Because  they  be  filled  with  customs  from  the  east, 
And  are  soothsayers  Hke  the  Philistines, 

And  they  strike  hands  with  the  children  of  strangers. 
7.  Their  land  also  is  full  of  silver  and  gold, 

Neither  is  there  any  end  of  their  treasures  ; 

these  things  a  day  of  judgment  is  coming ;  and  the  judgment, 
which  is  described  in  a  poem  of  splendid  power,  is  colored  by 
Isaiah's  experience  of  the  terrible  earthquake  which  occurred  in 
the  reign  of  Uzziah  (cf.  Amos  1:1),  and  which  remained  a  national 
memory  for  centuries  (Zech.  14:  5). 

6.  The  poem  can  hardly  have  begun  with  for.  It  has  been 
aptly  conjectured  that  this  verse  may  originally  have  been  pre- 
ceded by  the  refrain  which  now  appears  in  different  forms,  in  vss. 
10,  19,  21.  "  Enter  the  rocky  caverns  and  hide  thee  in  the  dust, 
etc.,  for  he  hath  forsaken  his  people"  (3d  person;  so  the  Greek 
version). 

The  first  count  in  the  indictment  against  Judah  is  her  supersti- 
tion. As  the  Hebrew  word  for  soothsayer,  very  like  the  word  for 
east,  appears  to  have  fallen  out,   we  should  probably  read : 

They  are  full  of  diviners  from  the  east. 
And  of  soothsayers  like  the  Philistines. 

The  first  term  is  used  of  obtaining  an  oracle  by  drawing  lots,  the 
second  is  quite  obscure ;  it  may  suggest  divination  by  watching 
the  clouds,  or  it  may  indicate  the  monotonous  croon  of  the  sooth- 
sayer, or  the  glance  of  the  evil  eye.  These  and  other  forms  of 
superstition  are  severel}^  condemned  and  forbidden  in  Deut. 
18 :  10  ff.  Indulgence  in  such  superstitious  practices  was  greatly 
encouraged  by  Israel's  intercourse,  through  trade  and  in  other 
ways,  with,  foreigners ;  the  soothsayers  a-re  from  the  east,  the  near 
east  (cf.  Balaam),  and  still  more  the  distant  Babylonia,  whose 
diviners  were  the  recognized  experts  of  the  ancient  world.  For 
Philistine  divination  cf.  i  Sam.  6  :  2;  2  Kings  1:2.  Uzziah's  wars 
with  the  Phihstines  (2  Chron.  26:6f.)  would  have  brought  his 
people  into  special  contact  with  them. 

They  strike  hands,  etc.  Any  sort  of  contract  with  foreigners 
always  involved  a  menace  to  the  purer  religion  of  Israel,  and  was 
therefore  deprecated  by  the  prophets  (cf.  Hos.  7:8;  Num.  23  :  9). 
It  has  been  suggested,  however,  with  some  probability,  that  this 
word  has  displaced  an  original  word  of  somewhat  similar  sound, 
meaning  "  they  practise  sorcery." 

7.  Uzziah  had  recovered  Elath,  the  port  on  the  northeasterly 
arm  of  the  Red  Sea  (2  Kings  14 :  22) ;   the  silver  and  gold  are  the 

40 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  2 :  10 


Their  land  also  is  full  of  horses, 

Neither  is  there  any  end  of  their  chariots. 

8.  Their  land  also  is  full  of  idols  ; 

They  worship  the  work  of  their  own  hands, 
That  which  their  own  fingers  have  made. 

9.  And  the  mean  man  is  bowed  down,  and  the  great 

man  is  brought  low  : 
Therefore  forgive  them  not. 
10.  Enter  into  the  rock, 

And  hide  thee  in  the  dust. 
From  before  the  terror  of  the  Lord 
And  from  the  glory  of  his  majesty.^ 

1  Gr.  here  properly  inserts,  when  he  arises  to  shake  the  earth  (cf.  vss.  19,  21). 

result  of  foreign  trade,  the  horses  and  chariots  would  be  neces- 
sary in  Uzziah's  wars  (2  Chron.  26  :  6-15).  All  alike  would  beget 
a  confidence  in  material  resources,  and  divert  Judah  from  faith 
in  her  unseen  God. 

8.  Superstition  (vs.  6),  wealth  (vs.  7),  idolatry  (vs.  8).  The 
idolatry  goes  naturally  with  the  superstition.  The  prophet  has 
nothing  but  scorn  (cf.  40:  19,  20)  for  worshippers  who  bow  down 
before  the  creations  of  their  own  hands.  Such  hand-made  gods 
are  no  gods  —  mere  nothings,  as  the  Hebrew  word  suggests. 

The  frequent  repetition  of  the  word  full  in  vss.  6-8  is  very 
impressive;  Judah  is  full  of  practices,  influences,  possessions, 
which  drive  her  from  her  God  and  compel  him  to  reject  her. 

9.  It  does  not  seem  natural  to  explain  the  being  bowed  down 
and  brought  low  of  the  people  being  sunk  in  superstition.  It  is 
more  probable,  especially  in  view  of  vs.  10,  which  urges  the  people 
to  hide  from  the  awful  presence  of  Jehovah,  that  the  doom  is  here 
pronounced  for  the  first  time.  The  language,  though  briefer, 
strongly  resembles  vss.  11,  17,  and  still  more  5:15;  perhaps 
originally  ran  "  the  mean  man  shall  he  bowed  down,"  etc.  The 
last  clause  of  the  verse  is  probably  corrupt ;  it  is  difficult  to  assign 
a  really  satisfactory  meaning  to  it.  The  last  clause  of  the  corre- 
sponding verse,  5  :  15,  is  more  satisfactory. 

10.  In  view  of  the  inevitable  doom,  the  prophet  bids  the  people 
flee  from  the  terrible  avenging  Jehovah,  to  the  caves  in  the  lime- 
stone rocks,  in  which  men  were  wont  to  seek  safety  from  their 
enemies  (i  Sam.  13  :  6). 

41 


II  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


11.  The  lofty  looks  of  men  shall  be  brought  low, 
And  the  haughtiness  of  men  shall  be  bowed  down, 
And  the  Lord  alone  shall  be  exalted  in  that  day. 

12.  For  there  shall  be  a  day  of  the  Lord  of  hosts 
Upon  all  that  is  proud  and  haughty, 

And  upon  all  that  is  lifted  up  :  ^  and  it  shall  be  brought 
low : 

13.  And  upon  all  the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  that  are  high  and 

Hfted  up, 
And  upon  all  the  oaks  of  Bashan  ; 

14.  And  upon  all  the  high  mountains. 

And  upon  all  the  hills  that  are  Hfted  up ; 

15.  And  upon  every  lofty  tow^r, 

And  upon  every  fenced  wall ; 

1  Gr.  and  high. 

II  f.  That  day  is  the  day  of  judgment,  the  great  day  of  Jehovah, 
described  so  powerfully  in  the  following  verses.  To  the  people, 
it  meant  the  day  of  judgment  upon  Israel's  enemies  (cf.  Amos 
5:  18  ff.);  to  the  early  prophets,  with  their  moral  conception  of 
Jehovah  (cf.  i:  17),  it  meant  the  day  of  judgment  upon  Israel 
herself.  There  is  no  one  in  all  the  universe  that  is  really  exalted 
but  Jehovah  (6:1);  all  that  seems  or  pretends  to  be  exalted  — 
whether  persons  or  things  —  must  therefore  be  thrown  remorse- 
lessly down  in  "  that  day,"  which  is  coming  "  upon  all  that  is  proud 
and  haughty,  and  upon  all  that  is  high  and  lifted  tip  "  (so  Gr). 
The  passage  finely  illustrates  Isaiah's  conception  of  the  lonely 
majesty  and  exaltation  of  God. 

13-16.  Again  (as  in  vss.  6-8,  with  their  impressive  repetition  of 
full)  the  swing  and  cadence  of  the  poem  can  be  distinctly  felt 
through  the  English  translation ;  upon  the  cedars,  upon  the  moun- 
tains, upon  the  towers,  upon  the  ships,  the  judgment  shall  fall. 
The  storm,  which  lays  these  lofty  things  low,  begins,  as  in  Ps.  29, 
in  the  north:  it  sweeps  through  the  forests,  prostrating  the  mighti- 
est trees ;  across  the  cities,  levelling  their  towers  and  walls ;  over 
the  seas,  wrecking  the  giant  ships.  These  allusions  have  perhaps  a 
special  as  well  as  a  general  point:  the  cedars  and  oaks  would 
contribute  to  the  luxury  of  the  palatial  homes  of  Judah,  the  towers 

42 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  2:20 


16.  And  upon  all  the  ships  of  Tarshish, 

And  upon  all  pleasant  imagery. 

17.  And  the  loftiness  of  men  shall  be  bowed  down, 
And  the  haughtiness  of  men  shall  be  brought  low, 
And  the  Lord  alone  shall  be  exalted  in  that  day. 

18.  And  the  idols  shall  utterly  pass  away. 

19.  And  men  shall  go  into  the  caves  of  the  rocks, 

And  into  the  holes  of  the  earth, 
From  before  the  terror  of  the  Lord, 

And  from  the  glory  of  his  majesty. 
When  he  ariseth  to  shake  mightily  the  earth. 

20.  In  that  day  a  man  shall  cast  away  his  idols  of  silver, 

and  walls  suggest  the  fortifications  of  Uzziah  and  Jotham,  and  the 
ships  recall  Uzziah's  fleet.  Uzziah  held  Elath,  a  harbor  of  great 
commercial  importance  (2  Kings  14:22),  and  must  have  pos- 
sessed a  fleet.  Ships  of  Tarshish,  primarily  ships  built  (by  the 
Phoenicians)  to  go  to  Tartessus  in  Spain,  came  to  mean  simply 
large  merchant-ships.  Imagery  has  been  explained  as  ornanien- 
tal  work  on  the  ships,  or  as  works  of  art  carried  by  the  ships ; 
perhaps  it  simply  conceals  another  word  for  ships,  parallel  to  the 
ships  of  the  first  clause. 

17  f.  Again  the  refrain;  cf.  vs.  11.  The  whole  passage  grandly 
suggests  the  might  of  the  great  storm-god,  and  by  impHcation  the 
impotence  of  men.  In  that  day,  when  his  storm  sweeps  across 
the  world,  it  will  be  patent  to  the  proudest  eyes  that  Jehovah  alone 
is  exalted,  and  the  folly  of  idolatry  (cf.  vs.  8),  of  worshipping  idols, 
nothings,  will  be  obvious ;  the  storm  will  sweep  them,  too,  away. 

19.  And  they  (not  7nen)  shall  go  into  the  caves  of  the  rocks. 
Who?  In  this  context,  apparently  the  idols  (vs.  18);  and  with 
this  idea  it  is  supposed  that  vs.  20  which,  unHke  the  poetic  context, 
is  in  pure  prose,  was  added  by  a  later  hand,  to  show  how  the 
idols  got  into  the  caves,  viz.  through  having  been  thrown  to  the 
moles  and  the  bats.  Having  regard,  however,  to  the  very  similar 
vs.  10,  it  seems  altogether  probable  that  this  verse,  of  which  vs.  21 
is  practically  a  duplicate,  originally  began  with  an  imperative : 
Enter  into  the  caves  of  the  rocks,  etc.  There  is  an  infinite  pathos 
about  this  refrain,  for  how  can  puny  man,  by  any  device,  hope  to 
escape  (cf.  Ps.  139  :  7)  the  terrible  presence  of  Jehovah,  when  he 
rises  to  affright  the  earth,  as  he  did  in  the  ever  memorable  earth- 
quake of  Uzziah's  reign  ? 

43 


2  121  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


and  his  idols  of  gold,  which  they  made  for  him  to 
worship,  to  the  moles  and  to  the  bats; 

21.  To  go  into  the  caverns  of  the  rocks. 

And  into  the  clefts  of  the  ragged  rocks, 
From  before  the  terror  of  the  Lord, 

And  from  the  glory  of  his  majesty, 
When  he  ariseth  to  shake  mightily  the  earth. 

22.  ^  Cease  ye  from  man,  whose  breath  is  in  his  nostrils; 

for  wherein  is  he  to  be  accounted  of? 

A  Reign  of  Anarchy  (3  :  1-15) 

3.  For,  behold,  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

Doth  take  away  from  Jerusalem  and  from  Judah 
Stay  and  staff,  the  whole  stay  of  bread,  and  the  whole 

1  This  vs.  is  not  in  Gr. 

2  2.  This  verse,  which  is  not  in  the  Greek  version,  is  a  conclusion 
drawn  from  the  previous  description  of  the  majestic  omnipotence 
of  God.  Cease  —  the  readers  are  reminded  —  from  trusting  in 
man  :  his  life  is  but  a  breath  (cf.  Gen.  2:7),  and  he  is  of  no  account 
whatever.  This  is  the  comment  that  rises  naturally  to  the  mind 
of  any  reader  fresh  from  the  description  of  the  devastating  storm. 

3:  1-15.  Already,  in  Chap.  2,  we  have  seen  the  storm  sweep 
across  Judah,  and  we  have  also  seen  something  of  the  sin  which 
made  its  coming  inevitable.  In  Chap.  3  the  doom  is  again  pro- 
claimed, and  the  sins  —  here  injustice  rather  than  superstition 
and  pride  —  again  enumerated,  though  the  order  of  the  sin  and 
doom  in  this  chapter  is  reversed.  The  doom  is  here  described 
(vss.  1-7)  as  social  and  political  chaos,  though  whether  that  is  to 
be  effected  from  without,  as,  for  example,  by  an  invasion  of  the 
Assyrians,  or  from  within,  by  revolution,  is  not  clearly  stated  — 
indeed  the  one  often  gave  opportunity  for  the  other.  The  pas- 
sage comes  no  doubt  from  the  reign  of  Ahaz,  and  that  reign  had  not 
advanced  far  till  Isaiah  had  witnessed  in  the  northern  kingdom 
the  very  confusion  he  here  describes  (2  Kings  15)  —  invasion  and 
revolution,  with  consequent  confusion  and  anarchy,  went  hand  in 
hand ;  and  Isaiah  foresees  here  for  Judah  a  fate  similar  to  that  of 
her  sister  to  the  north.  The  guilt  which  justifies  the  doom  is 
described  in  vss.  8-15. 

44 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  3:4 


2.  staff  of  water,  the  mighty  man,  and  the  man  of 
war; 

The  judge,  and  the  prophet,  and  the  diviner,  and  the 
^  ancient : 

3.  The  captain  of  fifty,  and  the  honourable  man,  and  the 

counsellor, 
And  the  ^  cunning  ^  artificer,  and  the  skilful  enchanter. 

4.  And  I  will  give  children  to  be  their  princes, 

1  m.  elder.        -  SV  expert.        ^  m.  charmer. 

1.  The  doom  is  to  be  executed  by  Jehovah  as  Sovereign,  the 
Lord ;  and  it  is  to  take  the  form  of  the  removal  of  all  the  "  pillars  " 
of  the  state  —  military,  administrative,  political,  religious.  How 
they  are  to  be  removed  we  are  not  told,  perhaps  by  assassination, 
perhaps  by  the  captivity  that  would  naturally  follow  a  foreign 
invasion  of  the  land ;  but,  however  that  might  be,  their  removal 
v/ould  mean  the  collapse  of  the  whole  social  fabric.  Stay  and  staff 
not  unaptly  render  the  Hebrew,  which  repeats  its  word  twice, 
first  in  the  mascuHne  and  then  in  the  feminine,  to  indicate  the 
completeness  of  the  doom.  The  "  stay  and  the  staff  "  are 
those  on  whom  the  country  leans  —  such  officials  as  are 
enumerated  in  the  two  following  verses ;  there  can  therefore  be 
little  doubt  that  "  stay  of  bread  and  staff  of  water,''  with  its  some- 
what irrelevant  outlook  on  famine  and  drought,  is  a  later  and 
rather  inappropriate  addition,  suggested,  perhaps,  by  such  pas- 
sages as  Ps.  105  :  16;  Lev.  26  :  26.  In  Isaiah's  own  words  (contrast 
the  opening  verse,  i:  i)  Jerusalem  always  precedes  Judah ;  the 
capital  city  illustrates  on  a  brilliant  scale  the  sins  that  stained  the 
whole  land. 

2,  3.  In  the  enumeration  of  the  officials  no  order  is  observable, 
though  it  is  significant  that  the  military  men  come  first,  and  that 
the  prophet  and  diviner  or  soothsayer  (condemned,  by  impHcation, 
in  the  restored  text  of  2:6,  "  soothsayers  from  the  east  ")  are 
mentioned  together.  The  prophets  as  a  whole  are  unworthy  men 
(cf.  28:  7  ff.),  with  whom  such  men  as  Isaiah  and  Amos  (7:  14) 
can  have  little  in  common.  The  absence  of  the  priest  from  this 
list  is  curious,  and  the  mention  of  the  wise  magician  (as  we  should 
perhaps  translate  instead  of  "  the  cunning  artificer  ")  and  of 
the  skilful  enchanter  as  among  the  supports  of  the  state  is  certainly 
very  ominous  (cf.  2  :  6). 

4,  5.  The  withdrawal  of  the  officials,  among  whom  were  elders 

45 


3:5 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  babes  shall  rule  over  them. 

5.  And  the  people  shall  be  oppressed,  everyone  by  another, 

And  every  one  by  his  neighbour  : 
The  child  shall  behave  himself  proudly  against  the 
^  ancient, 
And  the  base  against  the  honourable. 

6.  When  a  man  shall  take  hold  of  his  brother 

In  the  house  of  his  father,  saying, 
"Thou  hast  clothing, 

Be  thou  our  ruler. 
And  let  this  ruin  be 

Under  thy  hand :" 

7.  In  that  day  shall  he  lift  up  his  voice ,  saying, 

"I  will  not  be  an  healer  ; 
For  in  my  house  is  neither  bread  nor  clothing  : 
Ye  shall  not  make  me  ruler  of  the  people." 

1  m.  elder. 

(vs.  2),  throws  the  reins  of  government  into  the  hands  of  young 
men,  inexperienced,  capricious,  and  insolent;  "caprice  shall  rule 
over  them,"  i.e.  youths  whose  whim  is  their  law,  and  who  care 
nothing  for  justice.  Indeed,  the  tj^ranny  and  insolence  become 
general ;  age  and  honor  count  for  nothing  in  the  general  confusion 
and  dissolution  of  society. 

6.  In  the  welter,  things  come  to  such  a  pass  that  no  one  will 
accept  office,  even  when  it  is  thrust  upon  him.  The  country  is 
nothing  but  a  "  heap  of  ruins  ";  and  the  verse  seems  to  imply  that 
the  people,  recognizing  that  such  a  state  of  anarchy  can  no  longer 
continue,  offer  the  leadership  to  a  member,  apparently,  of  one  of 
the  noble  houses  referred  to  in  vss.  2,  3  —  to  one  who  possesses  a 
robe  of  office,  if  Marti's  plausible  emendation  ("  thy  father  "  for 
"  his  father  ")  and  interpretation  be  accepted : 

When  one  takes  hold  of  his  brother  {-citizen), 
Saying,  "  In  thy  father's  house  is  a  robe  of  office  ; 
Come,  do  thou  be  our  leader,''  etc. 

7.  But  not  all  their  vigor  and  violence  (vs.  6)  can  induce  him  to 
accept  office.      He  lifts  up  (his  voice)  in  protest.     How  can  he 

46 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  3:11 


8.  For  Jerusalem  is  ruined, 

And  Judah  is  fallen  : 
Because  their  tongue  and  their  doings  are  against  the 
Lord, 
To  provoke  the  eyes  of  his  glory. 

9.  ^  The  shew  of  their  countenance 

Doth  witness  against  them  ; 
And  they  declare  their  sin  as  Sodom, 

They  hide  it  not. 
Woe  unto  their  soul ! 

For  they  have  rewarded  evil  unto  themselves. 

10.  Say  ye  of  the  righteous,  that  it  shall  he  well  with  him: 

For  they  shall  eat  the  fruit  of  their  doings. 

11.  Woe  unto  the  wicked !  it  shall  he  ill  with  him: 

1  m.  their  respecting  of  persons. 

who,  as  a  result  of  the  anarchy,  has  no  resources  of  his  own,  help  a 
confused  and  resourceless  people?  He  cannot  heal  (lit.  hind  up, 
same  word  as  in  i  :  6)  the  wounds  of  a  country  so  torn :  ye  shall 
not  make  me  leader. 

8.  Jerusalem  is  mined  (cf.  vs.  6)  —  not  yet  in  reality,  but  to 
the  clear  e3^es  of  the  prophet,  she  is  as  good  as  ruined  :  a  political 
chaos  (1-7)  in  consequence  of  her  having  become  a  moral  chaos,  or, 
as  Isaiah  puts  it,  because  her  words  and  deeds  are  against  Jehovah. 
Her  people  forget  that  the  eyes  of  his  glory,  which  pierce  beneath 
the  show  and  surface  of  things,  are  upon  them  —  watching  alike 
the  cruelty  practised  upon  the  poor,  and  the  superfluous  finery 
with  which  the  proud  and  haughty  dames  of  Jerusalem  walk  up 
and  down  her  streets.     Such  sights  provoke  those  glorious  eyes. 

9.  The  great  sin  here,  as  so  often  in  Isaiah  (cf.  i  :  17),  is  the  mis- 
carriage of  justice.  In  the  presence  of  the  great  Judge,  who  in 
vs.  13  sets  up  his  tribunal,  these  earthly  ministers  of  justice  stand 
self-condemned :  their  partiality  (lit.  respect  of  persons,  rather 
than  the  show  of  their  countenance)  witnesses  against  them ;  they 
play  into  the  hands  of  the  rich  and  exploit  the  poor.  Before  the 
bar  of  the  divine  Judge,  they  in  this  way  announce  their  sin  undis- 
guisedly,  and  thus  bring  evil  upon  themselves. 

10.  II.  These  verses  sound  weak  in  so  powerful  a  context. 
Besides,  they  make  a  distinction  between  the  destinies  of  the  good 

47 


3:i2 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


For  the  reward  of  his  hands  shall  be  given  him. 

12.  As  for  my  people,  children  are  their  oppressors, 

And  ^  women  rule  over  them. 
O  my  people,  they  which  lead  thee  cause  thee  to  err, 
And  destroy  the  way  of  thy  paths. 

13.  The  Lord  standeth  up  to  plead, 

1  Gr.  extortioners. 

and  the  bad,  which  is  not  recognized  in  the  preceding  verses,  where 
the  evils  of  anarchy  fall  upon  all  alike.  The  Greek  translators 
felt  the  difficulty  of  the  verses,  and  endeavored  to  connect  them 
more  definitely  with  the  context.  They  are  in  all  probability  a 
later  addition,  and  even  the  text  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
well  preserved.     The  original  may  have  run : 

Happy  is  the  righteous  !  for  it  is  well  with  him  .  .  . 
Woe  to  the  wicked  !  for  it  is  ill  with  him,  etc. 

12.  The  divine  pity  for  the  crushed  and  misguided  people  finds 
forcible  expression  in  the  twice  repeated  my  people  at  the  begin- 
ning and  the  middle  of  the  verse.  The  first  line  is  usually  rendered 
"  children  are  their  oppressors  "  (or  "  a  child  is  their  oppressor"), 
and  "women  rule  over  them"  {i.e.  the  people;  or  him  — the 
child-king).  The  child  —  whether  in  years  or  in  character  — 
is  taken  to  refer  to  Ahaz,  who  was  young  when  he  ascended  the 
throne  (2  Kings  16:  2),  and  the  women  would  be  those  of  the 
harem,  or  perhaps  the  queen-mother.  "  Child,"  however,  is  not 
usually  represented  by  the  Hebrew  word  found  here,  which  is  the 
participle  of  a  verb  meaning  "  to  deal  severely  with,"  and,  as 
Marti  points  out,  the  words  may  equally  mean  their  rulers  deal 
harshly  with  them,  and  in  the  next  clause  the  word  rendered  "  wo- 
men "  may  equall}^  well  be  rendered  by  usurers,  oppressors  (cf. 
vs.  15),  and  was  so  taken  by  the  Greek  translators.  It  is  a  pity 
that  the  meaning  of  so  important  a  verse  should  be  ambiguous. 
On  the  common  view,  the  passage  could  be  safely  assigned  to  a 
period  very  early  in  the  reign  of  Ahaz ;  but  on  any  view  it  comes 
almost  certainly  from  his  reign.  The  disastrous  effects  of  his 
weak  and  vacillating  policy  are  apparent. 

0  my  people,  those  who  should  lead  thee  straight,  lead  thee  astray. 
The  leaders  had  themselves  confused  the  paths,  so  that  the  people 
did  not  know  how  to  walk  or  where  to  turn.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  how  the  prophets  hold  the  leaders  in  large  measure  respon- 
sible for  the  moral  condition  of  the  people ;  leaders  should  lead. 

13,  14.  The  divine  judgment,  hinted  at  in  vs.  9,  is  here  explicitly 

48 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  3 :  15 


And  standeth  to  judge  ^  the  peoples, 

14.  The  Lord  will  enter  into  judgement 

With  the  elders  of  his  people,  and  the  princes  thereof 
"It  is  ye  that  have  eaten  up  the  vineyard  ; 
The  spoil  of  the  poor  is  in  your  houses  : 

15.  What  mean  ye  that  ye  crush  my  people, 

And  grind  the  face  of  the  poor?" 
Saith  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 


Gr.  his  people. 


set  forth,  —  Jehovah  takes  his  stand  for  the  trial,  to  judge  (not  per- 
haps peoples,  but  rather,  with  Gr.)  his  people.  In  particular,  he 
enters  into  judgment  with  the  leading  men,  in  their  two  representa- 
tive classes  —  the  elders,  who  represented  the  traditional  order  of 
things,  and  the  princes,  the  official  representatives  of  the  monarchi- 
cal government.  It  was  their  business  to  protect  the  people,  here 
compared  to  a  vineyard  (cf.  Chap.  5),  from  depredation;  instead 
of  that,  as  for  yon  (very  emphatic ;  you,  its  divinely  constituted 
defenders),  you  have  yourselves  devoured  it,  \n  the  sense  explained  in 
the  remaining  clause  of  the  verse  and  vs.  15,  by  cruelly  plundering 
the  poor ;  the  evidence  is  incontrovertible,  for  the  spoil  is  in  your 
houses. 

15.  What  do  you  mean,  the  prophet  indignantly  asks  in  the 
name  of  his  God,  by  crushing  my  people,  and  by  grinding,  as  between 
the  upper  and  the  nether  millstone,  the  face  of  the  poor  ?  Again 
the  prophetic  interest  in  the  poor.  The  fierce  vigor  of  the  language 
here  recalls  the  similar  passages  in  Amos  (4:  i)  and,  still  more, 
Micah  3  :  2,  3. 

This  passage  (vss.  1-15)  is  a  very  graphic  description  of  the 
misery  of  a  state  given  over  to  anarchy,  and  it  is  significant  that 
here,  as  so  often,  the  crime,  of  which  such  anarchy  is  the  awful 
chastisement,  is  simply  social  injustice.  When  the  faces  of  the 
poor  are  being  ground,  revolution  and  anarchy  are  not  far  off. 
The  moral  insight  of  the  passage  is  as  keen  as  its  descriptive  power 
is  great. 

3  :  16-4  :  I.  With  his  customary  insight,  Isaiah,  like  Amos  (4  :  i), 
sees  that  for  the  moral  depravity  of  a  people  the  women  must  bear 
a  heavy  share  of  responsibility.  Appropriately  enough  he  here 
turns  to  them  and,  in  terms  scarcely  less  scathing  than  those  of 
Amos,  he  satirizes  their  haughtiness  and  conceit,  as  it  is  expressed 
in  their  stylish  dress  and  coquettish  manner,  and  pronounces  upon 
them  his  terrible  word  of  doom. 

E  49 


3:i6  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Doom  of  the  Haughty  Women  (3  :  16-4  :  i) 

16.  Moreover  the  Lord  said, 

Because  the  daughters  of  Zion  are  haughty, 
And  walk  with  stretched  forth  necks 

And  wanton  eyes, 
Walking  and  mincing  as  they  go, 

And  maldng  a  tinkhng  with  their  feet : 

17.  Therefore  the  Lord  will  smite  with  a  scab  the  crown 

of  the  head  of  the  daughters  of  Zion, 
And  the  Lord  will  lay  bare  their  secret  parts. 

18.  In  that  day  the  Lord  will  take  away  the  bravery  of 

19.  their  anklets,  and  the  ^  cauls,  and  the  crescents  :    the 

20.  pendants,  and   the   bracelets,  and  the  mufflers ;    the 
headtires,  and  the  ankle  chains,  and  the  sashes,  and 

21.  the  perfume  boxes,  and  the  amulets  ;  the  rings,  and  the 

22.  nose  jewels ;    the  festival  robes  and  the  mantles,  and 

23.  the  shawls,  and  the  satchels ;   the  -  hand  mirrors,  and 
the  fine  Hnen,  and  the  turbans,  and  the  veils. 

1  m.  networks.        2  Qr.  transparent  dresses. 

16,  17.  Zion,  on  which  the  royal  palace  and  temple  were  built, 
would  be,  as  Duhm  says,  the  fashionable  quarter.  It  is  therefore 
the  daughters  of  Zion,  the  fine  ladies,  whom  the  prophet  here 
lashes  with  his  scorn.  They  are  haughty  (lit.  high),  and,  as  they 
strut  along,  with  outstretched  neck,  and  tinkling  anklets  to 
attract  attention,  and  eyes  coquettishly  turned  upon  the  passers- 
by,  they  forget  —  if  ever  they  knew  —  the  truth  which  in  Chap.  2 
the  prophet  had  proclaimed  with  such  terrible  earnestness,  that 
a  day  of  Jehovah  is  coming  upon  all  that  is  proud  and  haughty 
(2:  12);  and  then,  reduced  by  the  exigencies  of  war  or  by  the 
prevailing  anarchy,  to  destitution,  he  will  smite  with  disease 
(the  scab)  the  heads  that  were  once  so  fair,  and  expose  the  once 
haughty  dames  to  the  licentious  insults  of  the  rabble. 

18-23,  It  is  now  generally  recognized  that  this  prosaic  inventory 
of  a  Hebrew  woman's  articles  of  dress  and  toilet,  interrupting  as 
it  does  the  terse  and  solemn  poetry  on  both  sides  of  it,  is  from  some 

50 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  4:1 


24.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass, 

That  instead  of  sweet  spices  there  shall  be  rottenness, 

And  instead  of  a  girdle  a  rope  ; 
And  instead  of  weU  set  hair  baldness  ; 

And  instead  of  a  stomacher  a  girding  of  sackcloth  ; 
Branding  instead  of  beauty. 

25.  Thy  men  shall  fall  by  the  sword, 

And  thy  mighty  in  the  war. 

26.  And  her  gates  shall  lamxcnt  and  mourn. 

And  she  shall  be  ^  desolate  and  sit  upon  the  ground. 
4.  And  seven  women  shall  take  hold 
Of  one  man  in  that  day,  saying, 

'  m.  emptied. 


later  hand  than  that  of  Isaiah.  The  number  of  apparently  for- 
eign words  shows  the  powerful  influence  of  foreign  customs,  and 
explains  the  prophetic  dread  of  "  striking  hands  with  foreigners  " 
(2:6,  cf.  Zeph.  1:8). 

24.  The  poem  is  here  resumed.  For  perfume  there  shall  he 
rottenness,  and  for  a  girdle  the  captive's  rope.  .  .  .  Burning  — 
perhaps  the  brand  of  a  slave  — for  beauty. 

25,  26.  In  these  verses  it  would  seem  as  if,  for  the  moment,  the 
women  were  forgotten,  and  some  city,  no  doubt  Jerusalem,  is 
being  apostrophized,  her  young  men  slain,  her  gates  mourning 
that  the  people  who  had  gathered  there  are  now  no  more,  the  city 
herself  emptied  (of  her  men)  and  sitting,  like  an  uncrowned 
queen,  upon  the  ground.  The  passage  recalls  the  spirit  and  lan- 
guage of  Lamentations  (cf.  2  :  10).  Note  the  change  in  these 
verses  from  the  second  to  the  third  person. 

4:1.  The  case  of  the  women  is  now  resumed,  and  the  descrip- 
tion of  their  fate  continued.  Exposed  as  they  are  to  insult  on 
every  side,  their  plight  will  be  so  desperate  that  seven  of  them, 
with  a  violence  much  Hke  that  of  those  who  were  in  search  of  a 
man  to  stem  the  tide  of  anarchy  (3:6),  will  lay  hold  of  any  man 
they  meet,  and  beseech  him  to  marry  them,  not  for  support  — 
that  they  will  find  for  themselves  —  but  for  the  protection  that 
his  name  will  throw  around  the  one  whom  he  makes  his  wife. 
And  this  —  humiliation  and  despair  —  is  the  end  of  the  haughty 
women  who  tripped  so  daintily  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem ! 

51 


4:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


"  We  will  eat  our  own  bread, 

And  wear  our  own  apparel : 
Only  let  us  be  called  by  thy  name  ; 

Take  thou  away  our  reproach." 

Zion^s  Final  Glory  (4 :  2-6) 
2.  In  that  day 

Shall  the  branch  of  the  Lord  be  beautiful  and  glorious, 
And  the  fruit  of  the  land  shall  be  excellent  and  comely 
For  them  that  are  escaped  of  Israel. 

4 :  2-6.  This  description  of  the  golden  age,  in  which  Jerusalem 
will  enjoy  the  visible  presence  of  Jehovah,  at  once  protected  and 
glorified  by  it,  is  a  foil  to  the  preceding  chapters  (2  and  3)  with  their 
melancholy  story  of  Judah's  idolatry,  pride,  and  injustice.  Every 
one  can  see  that  there  is  no  real  inner  connection  between  the  two 
descriptions.  The  prospect  announced  in  vss.  2-6  was  hardly 
likely  to  be  realized  in  that  day  —  the  day  of  anarchy  and  calamity 
described  in  Chap.  3.  That  day  is  in  reality  the  golden  age  to 
which  especially  the  later  writers  look  forward,  and  the  passage 
is  an  independent  piece.  This  picture  of  the  ideal  Jerusalem  of  the 
latter  days  is  set  very  effectively,  and  no  doubt  deliberately,  be- 
side the  picture  of  the  real  Jerusalem  with  its  venal  judges,  its 
crushed  poor,  its  proud  men,  its  haughty  women ;  and  like  the 
similar  passage  in  2  :  1-5,  it  forms  a  very  appropriate  conclusion 
to  the  group  (2  :  6-4 :  6).  The  "  daughters  of  Zion  "  (vs.  4)  form 
the  connecting  link  between  this  section  and  the  last  (3:16). 
Many  features  of  the  passage  —  the  "  holiness  ''  of  the  people  of 
Jerusalem,  the  reminiscence  of  the  Mosaic  age  in  the  dehneation 
of  the  ideal,  etc.  —  seem  to  point  to  a  post-exilic  date.  The  later 
age  loved  to  supplement  the  sternness  of  an  ancient  prophet's 
message  by  words  of  hope  and  consolation. 

2.  In  a  prophecy  of  the  Messianic  age,  it  is  from  a  modern  point 
of  view  surprising  to  find  the  initial  emphasis  thrown  upon  the 
fertility  of  the  land,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  phrase  the 
fruit  of  the  land  is  to  be  interpreted  literally.  It  is  only  to  the 
phrase  the  branch  of  Jehovah  that  doubt  can  attach.  This  has 
often  been  interpreted  personally  —  of  the  Messiah,  and  the  per- 
sonal use  of  the  word  branch  in  Jer.  23  :  5  ;  33  *  ^5  ;  Zech.  3:8; 
6:12,  lends  a  certain  plausibility  to  this  interpretation.  But  the 
context,  in  which  the  ambiguous  phrase  is  parallel  to  the  unam- 
biguous/rz/i/  of  the  land,  practically  puts  the  literal  interpretation 

52 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  4:4 


3.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  he  that  is  left  in  Zion, 
And  he  that  remaineth  m  Jerusalem,  shall  be  called 

holy. 
Even  every  one  that  is  written  ^  among  the  Hving  in 
Jerusalem : 

4.  When  the  Lord  shall  have  washed  away  the  filth  of 

the  daughters  of  Zion, 

And  shall  have  purged  the  blood  of  Jerusalem  from  the 
midst  thereof. 

By  the  2  spirit  of  judgement,  and  by  the  ^  spirit  of  burn- 
ing. 

1  m.  unto  life.        ^  m.  blast. 

beyond  all  doubt,  and  that  which  Jehovah  causes  to  sprout ^  (as  the 
words  literally  mean)  will  be  the  wild  vegetation,  for  which  man 
does  nothing  (Ps.  104:  14),  as  opposed  to  the  cultivated  fruits  of 
the  land  (Deut.  8:8).  There  will  be  supernatural  fertility  in  the 
latter  days  for  them  that  are  escaped  of  Israel,  that  is,  for  those 
who  escape  the  final  judgment  (Joel  2  :  32). 

3.  Those  who  are  left  in  Jerusalem  shall  be  called  (because  they 
shall  be;  the  name  is  a  real  index  to  the  thing)  holy  —  probably  in 
the  technical  sacerdotal  sense  as  well  as  in  the  moral.  To  later 
hope  and  imagination,  the  people  of  Jerusalem  appeared  as  Je- 
hovah's priests  for  the  whole  world  (61:6).  -They  are  his  "  holy 
people  "  (62  :  12)  — not  indeed  all  of  them,  but  every  one  who  is 
registered  unto  life.  The  idea  of  the  "  book  of  life  "  (Ps.  69  :  28,  cf. 
Exod.  32  :  32  f. ;  Mai.  3:16;  Dan.  12  :  i),  in  which  were  recorded 
the  names  of  all  who  would  "  live,"  that  is,  survive  the  final  judg- 
ment, was  suggested  by  the  register  in  which  the  names  of  citizens 
were  recorded  (cf.  Neh.  7  :  64).  In  Ps.  87  :  6,  the  civic  and  spirit- 
ual ideas  are  suggestively  blended. 

4.  This  verse  goes  with  vs.  3.  The  golden  age  will  come,  when 
the  Lord  shall  have  washed  away  the  impurity,  etc.  Men  and  wo- 
men were  guilty  alike  —  the  men  of  "  bloody  crimes  "  (Ezek. 
7:  23),  especially  against  the  poor  (Jer.  2  :  34).  They  are  to  be 
cleansed  by  the  mighty  blast  (or  spirit  —  the  spirit  being  con- 
ceived as  the  medium  or  agent)  of  judgment,  which  is  a  blast^  of 
extermination  (rather  than  burning)  ;  that  is,  it  is  a  judgment  which 
"  puts  away  "  (Deut.  13  :  5,  same  word  as  here)  the  evil  from  the 
midst  of  the  congregation. 

53 


415  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


5.  And  the  Lord  will  ^  create  over  the  whole  habitation 

of  Mount  Zion, 
And  over  her  assemblies,  a  cloud  and  smoke  by  day, 
And  the  shining  of  a  flaming  fire  by  night : 
For  over  all  the  glory  shall  he  spread  a  canopy. 

6.  And  there  shall  be  a  pavilion  for  a  shadow  in  the  day- 

time from  the  heat, 
And  for  a  refuge  and  for  a  covert  from  storm  and  from 
rain. 

The  Vineyard  with  the  Wild  Grapes   (5  : 1-30) 

The  Song  of  the  Vineyard  (5  :  1-7) 

5.  Let  me  sing  ^  for  my  wellbeloved  a  song 

Of  my  beloved  touching  his  vineyard. 

'  Gr.  come.  "  Or  oj. 

5.  Instead  of  create  we  should  probably  read,  with  the  Greek, 
come,  by  the  omission  of  a  single  letter.  And  Jehovah  will  come 
and  his  presence  will  rest  upon  the  whole  site  of  Mount  Zion  and 
upon  her  holy  convocations  as  (or  in)  a  cloud  by  day,  and  as  smoke 
and  the  shining  of  a  flaming  fire  by  night.  The  sublimest  feature 
of  those  future  golden  days  would  be  the  visible  presence  of  Je- 
hovah himself  with  his  people,  and  that  in  a  form  which  recalled 
the  high  privilege  of  the  Mosaic  age  (Exod.  13:  21,  22).  That 
presence  would  be  to  the  people  at  once  protection  and  glory. 

6.  With  this  verse  should  be  taken  perhaps  the  last  clause  of 
vs.  5, /or  over  all  the  holy  city  and  mountain  the  glory  of  Jehovah 
(that  is,  the  cloud  and  the  flame  of  fire)  will  be  canopy  and  cover- 
ing (lit.  pavilion),  —  a  shade  from  the  heat,  a  refuge  and  shelter  from 
storm  and  rain.  The  storm  and  rain  typify  floods  of  disaster  or 
oppression  (cf.  25:4).  Probably,  with  the  Greek,  in  the  daytime 
should  be  omitted. 

There  is  much  that  is  attractive  in  this  vision  of  the  future. 
True,  it  embraces  the  fertility  of  the  land  —  a  certain  healthy 
materialism  is  seldom  absent  from  the  Old  Testament  conception 
of  blessedness  —  but  its  inhabitants  are  a  people  whose  sins  have 
been  washed  away,  and  whose  life  is  overshadowed  by  the  pres- 
ence of  their  God. 

5  :  1-30.  The  prophecies  of  which  Chap.  5  is  composed,  having 

54 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  5:2 


My  wellbeloved  had  a  vineyard  Mat.  21 :  33 

In  a  very  fruitful  hill :  Lk.^o^^ 

2.  And  he  made  a  trench  about  it,  and  gathered  out 

the  stones  thereof, 
And  planted  it  with  the  choicest  vine, 
And  built  a  tower  in  the  midst  of  it, 

no  connection  either  with  Chap.  4  or  Chap.  6,  appear  to  form  an 
independent  group,  and  probably  belong,  like  Chaps.  2  and  3, 
to  Isaiah's  earlier  period  ;  but,  early  as  they  are,  they  already  show- 
literary  power  and  moral  insight  of  the  most  splendid  kind.  In 
Isaiah  the  poet  was  no  less  great  than  the  prophet. 

5:  1-7.  We  are  to  suppose  the  prophet  appearing  —  probably 
in  the  temple  on  the  occasion  of  some  festival  —  before  a  great 
gathering  drawn  from  the  capital  and  the  country  towns  of  Judah 
(vs.  3).  He  skilfully  attracts  their  attention  by  proposing  to 
sing  a  song  whose  theme  is  the  vineyard  of  a  friend  of  his.  As  the 
song  advances,  the  bitter  truth  gradually  discloses  itself.  The 
friend  is  Jehovah,  the  vineyard  is  Judah,  which,  because  of  the 
miserable  fruit  she  has  produced,  will  be  laid  utterly  waste. 

I,  2.  These  verses  have  been  admirably  rendered  by  Professor 
Cheyne : 

A  song  tvill  I  sing  of  my  friend, 

A  love-song  touching  his  vineyard. 
A  vineyard  belongs  to  my  friend, 

On  a  hill  that  is  fruitful  and  sunny; 
He  digged  it,  and  cleared  it  of  stones, 

And  planted  there  vines  that  are  choice; 
A  tower  he  built  in  the  midst. 

And  hewed  also  therein  a  wine-vat ; 
And  he  looked  to  find  grapes  that  are  good, 
Alas !  it  bore  grapes  that  are  wild. 

A  translation  like  this,  with  rhythm  and  real  poetic  flavor,  helps 
us  to  feel  how  little  justice  is  done  the  poetry  of  the  great  prophets 
by  the  average  prose  translation. 

The  vineyard  was  on  a  very  fruitful  hill  (lit.  a  horn,  the  son  of 
oil).  Everything  was  therefore  in  its  favor  from  the  beginning; 
in  addition,  the  most  affectionate  effort  had  been  spent  upon  it. 
A  substantial  tower  (and  not  merely  a  hut,  cf .  i  :  8)  had  been  built 
for  the  watchmen,  and  a  wine-vat  had  been  hewn  out  in  the  rock, 
into  which  the  juice  flowed  from  the  wine-press  above.  The  friend 
had  naturally  set  high  hopes  upon  a  vineyard  so  carefully  tended, 
but  the  grapes  it  produced  were  poor  (lit.  evil-smelhng). 

55 


5:3  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  also  hewed  out  a  ^  winepress  therein  : 
And  he  looked  that  it  should  bring  forth  grapes, 
And  it  brought  forth  wild  grapes. 

And  now,  O  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem, 

And  men  of  Judah, 
Judge,  I  pray  you,  betwixt  me 

And  my  vineyard. 
What  could  have  been  done  more  to  my  vineyard. 

That  I  have  not  done  in  it  ? 
Wherefore,  when  I   looked  that  it  should  bring 
forth  grapes. 

Brought  it  forth  wild  grapes  ? 

And  now  go  to  ;  I  will  tell  you 

What  I  will  do  to  my  vineyard  : 
I  will  take  away  the  hedge  thereof. 

And  it  shall  be  eaten  up  : 
I  will  break  down  the  fence  thereof, 

And  it  shall  be  trodden  down  : 
And  I  will  lay  it  waste  ; 

It  shall  not  be  pruned  nor  hoed  ; 

But  there  shall  come  up  briers  and  thorns : 
I  will  also  command  the  clouds 
That  they  rain  no  rain  upon  it. 

1  m.  SV  whiercat. 


3,  4.  The  prophet,  now  in  the  role  of  the  friend,  appeals  to  the 
crowd.  Had  he  not  a  right  to  expect  the  best  of  his  vineyard? 
Had  he  not  done  for  it  all  that  could  be  done?  He  leaves  it  to 
their  sense  of  justice  to  declare  what  such  a  vineyard  deserves. 

5,  6.  As  in  the  very  similar  parable  of  our  Lord,  the  men  ap- 
pealed to  are  silent  (Luke  20:  15  f.) ;  and  the  owner  himself  goes 
on  to  describe  its  fate,  using  impersonal  verbs  which  render  the 
Hebrew  words  very  vivid,  calling  attention,  as  they  do,  simply  to 

S6 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  5:8 


7.  For  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  the  house 

of  Israel, 
And  the  men  of  Judah  his  pleasant  plant : 
And  he  looked  for  judgement,  but  behold  oppression ; 
For  righteousness,  but  behold  a  cry. 

1^^6/(5:8-24) 

8.  Woe  unto  them  that  join  house  to  house, 

That  lay  field  to  field, 

the  awful  fact:  —  the  removal  of  the  protecting  hedge,  the  demoli- 
tion of  the  encircling  wall,  so  that  the  once  lovely  height  is  now 
exposed  to  the  trampHng  of  beasts.  And  now  it  will  be  as  de- 
liberately neglected  as  formerly  it  was  cared  for,  and  for  the  future, 
its  desolation  will  be  guaranteed,  for  no  rain  will  fall  upon  it. 
Now  Jehovah  is  clearly  the  friend,  as  he  alone  is  lord  of  the  rain. 

7.  The  grim  meaning  of  the  song  which  began  so  tenderly  is 
now  obvious  enough,  but  Isaiah  states  it  in  plain  terms  in  a  cHmax 
of  great  power.  The  men  before  him  are  the  vineyard,  and  their 
God  is  the  disappointed  Friend.  His  disappointment  is  expressed 
in  a  play  upon  words  which  it  is  impossible  to  reproduce  in  English 
—  G.  H.  Box  suggests  for  the  last  pair  right  and  riot ;  but  the  two 
words  of  each  group,  sounding  almost  exactly  alike,  and  differing 
only  by  a  single  Hebrew  letter  {e.g.  mishpat  and  mispach),  must 
have  written  themselves  indelibly  upon  the  memories  of  those  who 
heard  them.  He  looked  for  good  grapes,  and  he  found  wild  ones ; 
how  like,  yet  how  unlike.  He  looked  for  justice  (mishpat)  and 
behold !  something  that  differed  little  {mispach)  yet  differed 
infinitely  —  perhaps  bloodshed;  for  righteousness,  and  behold! 
(a  very  similar  word)  a  cry,  the  cry  of  those  unrighteously  oppressed. 

The  effect  of  this  skilful  parable  must  have  been  startling,  and 
was  no  doubt  irritating.     "  God  forbid  !  "  (Luke  20 :  16). 

5  :  8-24.  What  the  wild  grapes  of  the  parable  really  mean  is 
illustrated  in  the  group  of  woes  which  follows,  seven  perhaps  origi- 
nally, though,  judging  by  the  brevity  of  some  of  them,  longer  or 
shorter  fragments  appear  to  have  been  occasionally  lost.  This 
artistic  and  powerful  section  gives  us  a  vivid  glimpse  of  con- 
temporary society  in  Judah,  and  of  the  vices  which  corrupted  it. 

First  woe  (5  :  8-10)  upon  the  wealthy  land-owners. 

8.  The  tenacity  with  which  the  Hebrew  peasant  clung  to  his 
possessions  is  admirably  illustrated  by  the  story  of  Naboth  (i 
Kings  21).     But  the  exigencies  of  poverty,  due  sometimes  to  war, 

57 


5:9  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Till  there  be  no  room,  and  ye  be  made  to  dwell 

Alone  in  the  midst  of  the  land  ! 
9.     ^  In  mine  ears  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts, 

Of  a  truth  many  houses  shall  be  desolate. 

Even  great  and  fair,  without  inhabitant. 

10.  For  ten  acres  of  vineyard  shall  yield  one  bath, 

And  a  homer  of  seed  shall  yield  hut  an  ephah. 

11.  Woe  unto  them  that  rise  up  early  in  the  morning, 

That  they  may  follow  strong  drink  ; 
That  tarry  late  into  the  night, 
Till  wine  inflame  them  ! 

12.  And  the  harp  and  the  lute,  the  tab  ret  and  the  pipe, 

And  wine,  are  in  their  feasts  ; 

1  Gr.  these  things  have  been  heard  in  the  ears  of  tJie  Lord  of  hosts. 

would  compel  him  to  cede  his  property  to  men  of  wealth, who  would 
take  advantage  of  the  situation  to  join  house  to  house  and  lay 
field  to  field,  till,  the  poor  being  reduced  to  the  position  of  de- 
pendents or  slaves,  there  was  no  more  room  for  any  but  themselves, 
and  they  were  settled  alone  in  the  land.  Micah  (2:2)  similarly 
denounces  the  unscrupulousness  of  men  of  wealth  and  power. 

9,  10.  The  callous  land-owners  think  they  may  continue  such 
conduct  with  impunity ;  they  are  too  dull  to  hear  the  divine  word 
of  doom  pronounced  upon  it.  But  the  sharp  ears  of  Isaiah  hear 
it.  Jehovah  has  —  perhaps  we  should  add  revealed  himself  (cf. 
22  :  14)  or  sworn  —  in  mine  ears,  that  the  end  of  these  things  is 
desolation,  for  the  land  will  be  cursed  with  barrenness  —  a 
homer  yielding  only  an  ephah,  i.e.  one-tenth  part  of  the  seed  sown. 
The  hath  was  a  liquid  measure  equal  to  the  ephah,  about  eight  or 
nine  gallons ;  and  this  was  all  that  would  be  yielded  by  ten  acres, 
the  word  rendered  acre  meaning  the  land  that  two  oxen  could 
plough  in  a  day.  The  punishment  is  in  kind  :  the  farm  lands 
unjustly  seized  prove  profitless. 

Second  woe  (5  :  11-13)  —  upon  the  devotees  of  drink  and  pleas- 
ure. 

II,  12.  Drinking  in  the  morning  was  very  unusual  and  specially 
disgraceful  (cf.  Eccl.  10:  16  f. ;  Acts  2:  15).  The  carousals  are 
accompanied  by  music,  as  in  Amos's  companion  picture  (6:  5  f.), 
and   had   the  effect  of   drowning  the   moral  and   spiritual  sense. 

58 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  5 :  14 


But  they  regard  not  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
Neither  have  they  considered  the  operation  of  his 
hands. 

13.  Therefore  my  people  are  gone  into  captivity, 

For  lack  of  knowledge  : 
And  their  honourable  men  are  ^  famished, 
And  their  multitude  are  parched  with  thirst. 

14.  Therefore  ^  hell  hath  enlarged  her  desire. 

And  opened  her  mouth  without  measure  ; 
And  their  glory,  and  their  multitude,  and  their  pomp, 
And    he    that     rejoiceth    among    them,    descend 
into  it. 

'  Heb.  men  of  hunger  ;  Gr.  dead  with  hunger.        '  Heb.  Sheol. 


They  have  no  perception  of  the  work  of  Jehovah,  of  the  great  his- 
torical forces  then  in  operation,  of  the  divine  purpose  that  con- 
trolled them,  of  the  evil  day  that  for  them  was  so  near  (vss. 
26-29). 

13.  The  end  of  such  besotted  stupidity  could  only  be  exile. 
My  people  though  they  be  (i  :  2),  they  shall  surely  go  (prophetic 
pf .)  into  captivity,  for  want  of  knowledge;  or  it  may  be  unaware  — 
too  stupid  to  know  what  is  really  happening  to  them.  Their 
nobility  shall  he  consumed  with  hunger,  and  their  noisy  throng 
parched  with  thirst.  Here  again  punished  in  kind,  —  for  the  ban- 
quet, the  famine. 

Third  woe  (5  :  14,  17)  —  upon  Jerusalem  (?). 

Vs.  14,  with  its  therefore,  does  not  naturally  follow  vs.  13  {there- 
fore, etc.),  whose  picture  of  doom  is  complete,  forming  an  appro- 
priate and  striking  conclusion  to  the  second  woe.  Besides,  the 
suffixes  here  are  feminine  (in  vs.  13,  masc),  pointing  apparently 
to  a  city.  Vss.  14,  17,  then,  beginning  with  therefore,  probably 
form  the  conclusion  of  the  third  woe  (like  vs.  13),  of  which  the 
beginning  has  been  lost.  Hell,  Sheol,  the  underworld,  hke  a 
ravenous  monster,  opens  her  huge  jaws  to  swallow  up  in  everlast- 
ing silence  the  splendor  and  noise  of  the  joyous,  wicked  city  —  a 
very  impressive  picture  ;  and  on  the  site  where  once  the  city  stood, 
lambs  shall  graze,  and  —  perhaps  we  should  read,  omitting  one  of 
the  Hebrew  words — fallings  (or  kids;  not  wanderers)  shall  feed 
in  her  ruins. 

59 


5 :  15  THE  BOOK  OF  ISMAH 


15.  And  the  mean  man  is  bowed  down,  and  the  great  man 

is  humbled, 
And  the  eyes  of  the  lofty  are  humbled  : 

16.  But  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  exalted  in  judgement. 

And  God  the  Holy  One  is  sanctified  in  righteousness. 

17.  Then  shall  the  lambs  feed  as  in  their  pasture, 

And  the  waste  places  of  the  fat  ones  shall  ^  wanderers 
eat. 

18.  Woe  unto  them  that  draw  iniquity 

With  cords  of  vanity. 
And  sin  as  it  were  with  a  cart  rope  : 

19.  That  say,  "Let  him  make  speed,  let  him  hasten 

His  work,  that  we  may  see  it : 
And  let  the  counsel  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  draw  nigh 
And  come,  that  we  may  know  it !" 

20.  Woe  unto  them  that  call  evil  good, 

And  good  e\dl ; 

1  Gr.  lambs. 

15,  16.  These  verses,  especially  15,  are  probably  a  later  insertion. 
Vs.  15  weakens  the  effect  of  the  preceding  verse,  according  to 
which  the  people  are  already  plunged  into  Sheol,  besides  being  a 
reminiscence  of  2:  11,  17.  The  holy  God  shows  himself  holy  in 
righteousness,  i.e.  by  his  righteous  act  of  judgment  upon  the  wicked 
city. 

Fourth  woe  (5  :  18,  19)  — •  upon  the  sceptics. 

18,  19.  With  the  sin  is  intimately  bound  up  the  penalty;  and 
this,  though  they  fondly  imagine  it  will  never  come  (vs.  19),  they 
are  actually  dragging  on,  pulling  it  towards  them,  as  it  were,  with 
ropes.  They  are  sceptics,  who  will  not  believe  in  the  judgment 
until  they  see  it ;  and  their  scepticism  is  passing  into  scorn  : 
let  God  make  haste  !  It  is  possible  that  the  conclusion  of  this  woe 
and  of  the  next  two  {therefore,  etc.)  has  been  lost. 

Fifth  woe  (5  :  20)  —  upon  those  who  subvert  the  moral  order. 

20.  To  these  men  good  and  evil  have  no  absolute  meaning. 
That  is  good  which  is  good,  i.e.  profitable  for  them,  though  it  may 
be  absolutely  bad,  e.g.  their  ruthless  absorption  of  the  property  of 
the  poor  (vs.  8).     Goodness,  in  Isaiah's  sense  of  social  justice 

60 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  5:24 


That  put  darkness  for  light, 

And  Hght  for  darkness  ; 
That  put  bitter  for  sweet, 

And  sweet  for  bitter  ! 

21.  Woe  unto  them  that  are  wise  in  their  own  eyes, 

And  prudent  in  their  own  sight ! 

22.  Woe  unto  them  that  are  mighty  to  drink  wine. 

And  men  of  strength  to  mingle  strong  drink  : 

23.  Which  justify  the  wicked  for  a  reward, 

And  take  away  the  righteousness  of  the  righteous 
from  him  ! 

24.  Therefore  as  the  tongue  of  fire  devoureth  the  stubble, 

And  as  the  dry  grass  sinketh  down  in  the  flame, 
So  their  root  shall  be  as  rottenness, 

And  their  blossom  shall  go  up  as  dust  : 
Because  they  have  rejected  the  law  of  the  Lord  of  hosts, 

And  despised  the  word  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 

(i :  17),   means  sweetness   and   light;    injustice  is  bitterness    and 
darkness. 

Sixth  woe  (5:21)  —  upon  the  men  of  conceited  intelligence. 

21.  These  were  probably  politicians,  who  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
the  prophetic  truths  on  which  such  men  as  Isaiah  insisted. 

Seventh  woe  (5  :  22-24)  —  upon  corrupt  judges. 

22.  The  sentiment  of  vs.  22  has  occurred  already  (vs.  11), 
and  the  connection  between  drunkenness  and  the  maladministra- 
tion of  justice,  though  thoroughly  intelligible,  fails  to  concentrate 
attention  upon  the  single  sin,  as  the  other  woes  do ;  the  place  of 
vs.  22  has  therefore  been  questioned.  The  men  were  mighty, 
heroes,  at  the  wine-bowl  (Amos  6:6);  they  could  spice  the  wine 
and  drink  it  valiantly. 

23.  Justice  was  bought  and  sold  —  one  of  the  root-evils  of 
Oriental  society  (i :  23).  For  a  bribe  they  acquitted  the  guilty 
(the  man  who  was  in  the  wrong)  and  condemned  the  innocent 
(the  man  who  was  in  the  right). 

24.  This  announcement  of  doom  serves  for  the  conclusion  not 
only  of  the  last  woe,  but  of  the  whole  group.  The  sinners  shall 
perish  as  quickly  as  stubble  in  the  flame,  the  crackling  of  which 
one  can  hear  in  the  Hebrew  words  with  their  multiplied  5^,     The 

61 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


A  Foreign  Army  is  Coining  (5  :  25-30) 

25.  Therefore  is  the  anger  of  the  Lord  kindled  against  his 
people, 
And  he  hath  stretched  forth  his  hand  against  them, 
and  hath  smitten  them, 
And  the  hills  did  tremble,  and  their  carcases  were 

As  refuse  in  the  midst  of  the  streets. 
For  all  this  his  anger  is  not  turned  away, 
But  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still. 


metaphor  which  describes  how  they  perish,  root  and  branch, 
changes  in  the  next  clause.  The  clause  because  they  rejected,  etc., 
which  seems  very  general  for  so  concrete  a  context,  may  be  in- 
tended as  a  comprehensive  summary  of  all  the  sins  denounced; 
the  law  of  Jehovah  will  then  be  the  prophetic  instruction  (cf.  i  :  10). 

This  group  of  woes,  which  is  very  skilfully  composed,  shows  how 
strikingly  the  vices  of  one  civilization  resemble  those  of  another. 
The  land  question  and  the  drink  question  belong  as  truly  to  our 
world  as  to  Isaiah's.  The  paragraph  is  haunted,  too,  by  a  sense 
of  nemesis :  the  land  unjustly  acquired  would  be  cursed  with 
barrenness,  and  the  end  of  the  wine-drinkers  would  be  hunger  and 
thirst. 

5  :  25-30.  This  piece,  beginning  with  therefore,  can  hardly  be 
the  continuation  of  the  last  verse,  which  began  similarly  (cf.  vss. 
13,  14).     As  the  end  of  vs.  25  : 

For  all  this  his  anger  is  not  turned  away, 
But  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still, 

forms  the  refrain  of  the  great  poem  (9  :  8-10  :  4 ;  cf .  9  :  1 2,  1 7,  etc.), 
it  has  been  conjectured  with  much  probability  that  it  really  be- 
longs to  that  poem,  to  which  indeed,  with  its  definite  announce- 
ment of  the  invasion  of  Judah  by  a  foreign  army,  it  would  form  a 
very  powerful  conclusion.  Even  so  the  position  of  the  section 
5  :  25-30,  however  it  came  to  be  where  it  now  is,  is  by  no  means 
inappropriate.  It  shows  how  the  woes  announced  in  the  previous 
section  are  to  be  executed,  and  fills  them  with  a  very  terrible  mean- 
ing. 

25.  Behind  this  picture  of  destruction  may  lie  Isaiah's  experi- 
ence of  the  earthquake  (Amos  i  :  i).  "  The  hills  seemed  to  topple 
over,  and  when  the  living  recovered  from  the  shock  there  lay  the 
dead,  flung  like  refuse  about  the  streets  "  (G.  A.  Smith,  Isaiah, 
Vol.  I,  p.  50).     But  the  hand  is  still  uplifted  to  strike  a  yet  more 

62 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


5:30 


26.  And  he  will  lift  up  an  ensign  to  the  nations  from  far, 

And  will  hiss  for  them  from  the  end  of  the  earth  : 
And,  behold,  they  shall  come  with  speed  swiftly : 

27.  None  shall  be  weary,  nor  stumble  among  them  : 

None  shall  slumber  nor  sleep  ; 
Neither  shall  the  girdle  of  their  loins  be  loosed. 
Nor  the  latchet  of  their  shoes  be  broken  : 

28.  Whose  arrows  are  sharp. 

And  all  their  bows  bent ; 
Their  horses'  hoofs  shall  be  counted  like  flint, 
And  their  w^heels  like  a  whirlwind  : 

29.  Their  roaring  shall  be  like  a  lion. 

They  shall  roar  like  young  Uons  ;  yea,  they  shall  roar, 
And  lay  hold  of  the  prey,  and  carry  it  away  safe, 
And  there  shall  be  none  to  dehver. 

30.  And  they  shall  roar  against  them  in  that  day  like  the 

roaring  of  the  sea  : 
And  if  one  look  unto  the  land,  behold  darkness  and 

distress, 
^  And  the  Hght  is  darkened  in  the  clouds  thereof. 

1  Gr.  om.  and  the  light  is  darkened,  and  reads  simply  in  their  perplexity. 

terrible  blow ;  what  that  will  be  becomes  clear  in  the  splendid 
description  of  the  Assyrian  army  that  follows.  Isaiah  does  not 
indeed  name  them  here  any  more  than  Amos  does  in  6  :  14,  but 
there  is  no  more  doubt  here  than  there. 

26-29.  Jehovah  will  raise  a  military  signal,  as  a  rendezvous,  to  a 
nation  from  afar,  i.e.  the  Assyrians,  and  hiss  to  them,  as  a  bee- 
keeper to  attract  his  bees  (cf.  7  :  18). 

And  behold !  With  this  appeal  the  magnificent  description  of 
the  Assyrian  host  commences  —  their  rapidity  of  movement,  their 
unwearied  persistence,  the  excellence  of  their  deadly  weapons, 
the  invincible  rush  of  their  horses  and  chariots,  their  thunderous 
roar  as  they  leap  upon  their  prey. 

30.  This  verse  heightens  the  terror  of  Israel's  doom,  described 
in  vs.  29  —  not  only  defeat,  but  distress  and  darkness.     As  the 

63 


6:  I  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Rev.  4 : 2 


The  Prophet's  Call  (Chap.  6) 

6.     In  the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died  I  saw  the  Lord 
5:'i'  sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  hfted  up,  and  his  train 

text,  however,  appears  to  be  somewhat  confused  (cf.  the  Greek 
version),  and  the  verse  strongly  resembles  8  :  22,  it  has  been  sup- 
posed by  some  to  be  a  later  insertion,  consolatory  to  Israel,  de- 
scribing the  fate  of  the  Assyrian.  "  Over  him  there  shall  be  a 
roaring,  etc."  For  a  poetical  translation  of  this  passage,  see 
Introduction,  p.  13. 

Chap.  6,  There  are  few  things  more  impressive  in  literature 
than  this  account  of  the  inaugural  vision  of  Isaiah.  In  few  and 
simple  words  he  leads  us  into  the  august  presence  of  the  Lord  whose 
glory  fills  the  whole  earth,  he  lets  us  hear  the  music  of  the  choir  of 
the  seraphim,  he  carries  us,  so  far  as  human  words  may,  into  the 
secret  of  his  call  and  consecration,  and  the  mysterious  atmosphere 
of  the  supernatural  hes  about  the  whole  wonderful  scene. 

We  should  expect  the  story  of  the  call,  which  came  at  the  be- 
ginning of  his  ministry,  to  appear  at  the  beginning  of  his  book. 
There  is,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  a  certain  propriety  in  Chap,  i 
as  a  frontispiece ;  besides,  it  is  plain  that  the  story  of  the  call  was 
written  some  time  after  his  experience  of  it.  Even  if  it  be  too 
much  to  say  that  vss.  9  f.  are  best  explained  as  a  retrospective 
glance  at  a  relatively  unsuccessful  ministry,  the  very  first  sentence, 
Ifi  the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died,  seems  to  look  back  upon  that 
event  from  a  later  day.  The  chapter  was  probably  intended  to 
introduce  the  group  of  prophecies  in  7  :  1-9  :  7  which  gather  round 
Ahaz  and  the  ominous  events  of  735  B.C. 

I.  In  the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died  (740  b.c).  The  king  who, 
in  the  course  of  his  long,  brilliant,  and  successful  reign,  had  done 
so  much  for  the  security  and  prosperity  of  Judah  (2  Chron.  26), 
died.  But  Jehovah  did  not  die  ;  in  that  very  year,  Isaiah  saw  him 
as  the  Lord,  sitting  upon  a  throne.  The  invisible  King  sits  upon  an 
everlasting  throne.  Isaiah  does  not  attempt  to  describe  him.  He 
does  not  see  him,  for  his  eyes  are  humbly  cast  down  —  he  sees 
nothing  but  the  sweep  of  his  garments.  The  vision  takes  place 
in  the  temple.  The  word,  which  may  be  translated  palace,  has 
been  referred  to  the  heavenly  temple  (cf.  Ps.  11  :  4),  but  it  is  more 
natural  to  refer  it  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  The  young  prophet, 
meditating  in  the  temple  upon  his  country's  future  and  his  own, 
may  well  have  received  his  revelation  there.  In  any  case,  the 
vision  is  colored  by  his  experience  of  the  temple  worship.  The 
majesty  and  exaltation  of  the  Lord  have  already  been  powerfully 
treated  in  2  :  10-19;   this  is  one  of  the  leading  thoughts  of  Isaiah. 

64 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  6:4 


2.  filled  the  temple.  Above  him  stood  the  seraphim : 
each  one  had  six  wings  ;  with  twain  he  covered  his  face, 
and  with  twain  he  covered  his  feet,  and  with  twain  he 

3.  did  fly.     And  one  cried  to  another,  and  said, 

"Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  of  hosts  ; 
The  whole  earth  is  full  of  his  glory." 

4.  And  the  fomidations  of  the  thresholds  were  moved 

2.  The  Lord  is  sitting,  and  his  ministers,  the  seraphim,  are 
standing,  therefore  they  appear  above  him.  The  seraphim  are 
not  angels.  The  same  word  is  used  of  the  serpents  by  which  the 
Israelites  were  plagued  in  the  wilderness  (Num.  21:6-9);  and 
when  we  consider  that  in  antiquity  serpents  were  considered  to 
guard  the  thresholds  of  temples,  and  that  at  this  very  time  there 
was  a  brazen  serpent  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  (2  Kings  18  :  4),  it 
is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  seraphim  of  the  vision  were  in  this 
way  suggested  to  the  imagination  of  the  prophet.  They  were, 
however,  very  different  in  appearance  from  ordinary  serpents,  as 
they  had  wings  —  two  to  cover  their  faces,  for  they  must  not  look 
upon  the  Lord  any  more  than  man  may  (vs.  5  ;  i  Kings  19 :  13), 
two  to  cover  the  nether  portions  of  their  body,  v/hich  would  have 
been  otherwise  exposed,  and  two  with  which  they  could  fly  in  the 
service  of  their  Lord  (cf.  vs.  6). 

3.  Their  song  was  probably  responsive  —  one  -would  call  to 
another  —  the  first  line  (  Holy  .  .  .  )  being  answered  by  the  second 
{ilie  ivhole  earth  .  .  .  ).  The  word  holy  appears  primarily  to  have 
involved  the  idea  of  separation,  and  was  thus  admirably  fitted, 
as  an  epithet  of  Deity,  to  express  the  distance  that  separates  God 
from  man.  He  is  separated  from,  and  elevated  above,  the  limi- 
tations of  that  which  is  human.  But  though  the  word  had  origi- 
nally no  moral  connotation,  it  very  naturally  acquired  one  in 
course  of  time.  Human  weakness  expresses  itself  conspicuously 
in  sin,  and  from  this,  too,  God  is  separated.  That  the  word  here 
involves  a  moral  idea  is  shown  by  Isaiah's  horror  at  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  guilt  in  such  a  holy  presence.  As  a  consequence  of  his 
holiness  (in  both  senses  —  majesty  and  purity),  his  glory  fills  the 
whole  world ;  he  is  Lord  alike  of  nature  and  of  the  moral  order. 
The  seraphic  song  is  more  than  a  prayer:  "  Hallowed  be  Thy 
name,  Thy  Kingdom  come."  The  eyes  of  those  mysterious  ser- 
vants see  beyond  all  the  sins  and  confusions  of  history,  beyond  the 
wicked  kingdom  and  the  dead  king,  to  that  eternal  world  where 
God's  name  is  already  hallowed  and  his  kingdom  already  come. 

4.  The  song  is  followed  by  a  mysterious  shaking,  and  the  temple 

F  65 


6:5  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Rev.  is: 8  at  the  voice  of  him  that  cried,  and  the  house  was  filled 

5.  with  smoke.     Then  said  I, 

"Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am  undone  ; 

Because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips, 

And  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean 

lips: 
For  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of 

hosts." 

6.  Then  flew  one  of  the  seraphim  unto  me,  having  a 
1  live  coal  in  his  hand,  which  he  had  taken  with  the 

7.  tongs  from  off  the  altar  :  and  he  touched  my  mouth 
with  it,  and  said, 

"Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy  lips  ; 
And   thine   inquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy  sin 
-purged." 

8.  And  I  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  saying. 


1  m.  hot  stone.        2  ^a.  expiated. 


began  to  fill  with  smoke  —  whether  from  the  altar  fire  (vs.  6),  or, 
as  Duhm  has  suggested,  from  the  mouth  of  the  seraphim  (cf. 
Ezek.  I  :  13  f.) ;  in  either  case,  perhaps  a  weird  symbol  of  the  di- 
vine displeasure  with  the  "  man  of  unclean  lips." 

5.  The  shaking,  the  song,  the  smoke,  above  all  the  holy  pres- 
ence, throw  Isaiah  into  terror.  According  to  an  ancient  idea,  the 
sight  of  God  brings  death  (cf.  Jud.  13:  22,  Exod.  19:  21);  espe- 
cially does  the  iinclean  Isaiah  feel  that  he  must  perish.  Besides 
his  own  sin,  the  taint  of  his  environment  is  upon  him  —  he  dwells 
in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips. 

6,  7.  His  sin  is  concentrated,  as  it  were,  upon  his  lips,  which, 
to  the  prophet  or  preacher,  constitute  the  great  instrument  of 
service.  Before  service  is  possible,  the  sin  must  be  burned  off 
these.  So,  with  a  hot  stone,  such  as  was  used  in  transferring  heat, 
one  of  the  seraphic  servants,  who  needs  no  bidding  from  his  Lord, 
touched  the  sinful  lips,  burnt  up  the  sin  upon  them,  and  solemnly 
pronounces  that  it  is  now  purged,  removed,  covered.  It  is  interest- 
ing and  of  great  significance  that,  although  the  scene  of  this  for- 
giveness is  the  temple,  it  is  effected  without  sacrifice. 

8.  It  is  the  consecrated  man  who  hears  the  divine  voice,  and  the 
66 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


6: 10 


"Whom  shall  I  send, 
And  who  will  go  for  us  ?  " 
Then  I  said, 
"Here  am  I ;  send  me." 
9.  And  he  said, 

"  Go,  and  tell  this  people, 
'  Hear  ye  indeed,  but  understand  not ; 
And  see  ye  indeed,  but  perceive  not.' 
10.  Make  the  heart  of  this  people  fat. 

And  make  their  ears  heavy,  and  shut  their  eyes  ; 
Lest  they  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their 

ears. 
And  understand  with  their  heart,  and  turn  again,  jn,  12:40 
and  be  healed." 


Mat.  13 :  14 

f. 
Mk.  4 :  12 
Lk.  8 :  10 
Acts,  28 :  26 

f. 


words  which  he  hears  are  a  call  to  service.  The  impulse  to  service 
is  the  first  effect  of  fellowship  with  God ;  and  Isaiah  answers  the 
call  without  hesitation  or  compromise  —  behold  me,  send  me  — 
though  he  does  not  know  in  detail  what  it  may  involve.  The  di- 
vine voice  is  not  addressed  specially  to  him  ;  he  has  no  special  call. 
The  need  of  the  world  constitutes  the  call,  and  the  consecrated 
man  hears  it.  The  service  of  God  is  the  service  of  man  ;  in  going 
for  us,  he  goes  to  the  people  (vs.  9).  For  us,  i.e.  for  the  supernatural 
beings,  the  "  sons  of  God,"  the  heavenly  council,  by  whom  in 
earlier  times  Jehovah  was  conceived  as  being  surrounded  (Job  i  :  6). 
9,  10.  The  task  upon  which  he  is  sent  is  surprising  and  painful 
—  to  deliver  a  message  which  \A\\  be  continually  rejected.  The 
more  he  would  preach,  the  more  dull  and  callous  would  his  hearers 
become  —  eyes  smeared,  ears  heavy,  hearts  unfeeling  —  till  no 
healing  would  be  possible.  The  words,  put  here  in  the  imperative 
form,  are  to  be  explained  not  so  much  as  a  command,  but  rather  as 
the  statement  of  a  great  law  —  that  if  men,  under  the  influence  of 
preaching,  do  not  grow  more  responsive,  they  will  grow  more 
callous.  The  penalty  of  their  indifference  is  simply  that  they 
will  be  confirmed  in  it,  until  all  spiritual  receptivity  is  lost.  It  has 
seemed  to  some  that  the  enthusiastic  prophet  can  hardly  have 
been  launched  upon  his  ministry  with  a  prospect  so  hopeless,  but 
that  in  later  days  he  read  his  subsequent  experience  back  into  his 
call.  That  may  be;  but  there  was  enough  in  the  life-story  of 
predecessors  like  Elijah  and  Amos  to  keep  so  sane  and  clear-eyed 

67 


6:  II  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


11.  Then  said  I, 

"Lord,  how  long?" 
And  he  answered, 

"Until  cities  be  waste  without  inhabitant, 

And  houses  without  man. 

And  the  land  ^  become  utterly  waste, 

12.  And  the  Lord  have  removed  men  far  away, 

And  the  forsaken  places  be  many  in  the  midst  of 
the  land. 

13.  And  if  there  be  yet  a  tenth  in  it. 

It  shall  again  be  ^  eaten  up  : 
As  a  terebinth,  and  as  an  oak, 
Whose  stock  remaineth  when  they  are  felled : 
^  So  the  holy  seed  is  the  stock  thereof." 


Gr.  he  left.        2  m.  burnt.        ^  Gr.  om. 


a  man  as  Isaiah  from  cherishing  too  sanguine  hopes  as  to  the 
success  of  his  ministry. 

II,  12.  The  earnest  preaching  and  the  callous  reception  of  it 
would  continue  until  the  land  was  reduced  to  a  desolation.  The 
kingdom  of  God  cannot  come  until  this  obdurate  generation  is 
wiped  out;   war  and  exile  will  do  the  work. 

13.  The  work  will  be  well  done;  should  it  happen  that  any 
fraction  of  the  people  survives,  that  too  will,  in  its  turn,  be  de- 
stroyed, just  as,  after  a  tree  has  been  felled,  the  stump  is  burned. 
This  very  graphic  statement  of  the  completeness  of  the  destruc- 
tion has  its  point  quite  blunted  by  the  last  clause,  the  holy  seed  is 
the  stock  thereof,  which  is  clearly  intended  to  mitigate  the  pre- 
ceding judgment  (cf.  2:  1-4;  4:  2-6).  It  is  hardly  possible  that 
the  verse  can  be  Isaiah's.  In  answer  to  the  assertion  that  it 
resembles  his  doctrine  of  the  remnant  that  is  to  be  saved  and 
form  the  nucleus  of  the  new  community  and  so  may  be  Isaiah's 
own,  it  may  be  said  that,  besides  being  in  contradiction  with  vs.  11 
and  with  the  terrible  picture  that  immediately  precedes  it  (vs.  13), 
the  words  are  not  found  in  the  Greek  version.  This  would  suggest 
that  the  addition  is  perhaps  as  late  as  the  second  century  B.C. 

Isaiah  beheves  in  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  his  control  of 
history.  He  began  his  prophetic  work  with  the  vision  of  the  Lord 
upon  his  throne ;   and  amid  all  the  disappointments,  changes,  and 

68 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  7  :  i 


The  Crisis  of  735  b.c.  (7  : 1-9  :  7) 

The  Prophet's  Word  to  the  Terrified  King  (7  :  1-9) 

And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of  Ahaz  the  son  of 
Jotham,  the  son  of  Uzziah,  king  of  Judah,  that  Rezin 
the  king  of  Syria,  and  Pekah  the  son  of  Remaliah, 


confusions  of  the  forty  years  during  which  he  served  his  God  and 
his  wih'ul  people,  that  vision  sustained  him,  imparting  to  his  long 
career  something  of  the  serenity  and  majesty  of  the  God  whom  his 
young  eyes  had  seen  at  the  beginning,  in  his  inaugural  vision. 

7  :  1-9 :  6.  This  group  of  prophecies  introduces  us  to  a  great 
crisis  in  the  history  of  Judah,  and  shows  us  how  differently  that 
crisis  was  met  by  the  prophet  (Isaiah)  and  the  King  (Ahaz). 
In  735  B.C.  —  and  earlier  perhaps  also,  cf.  2  Kings  15:37  —  a 
combined  assault  was  made  upon  Judah  by  Aram  (Syria)  and  Is- 
rael. We  are  not  expressly  told  the  reason  of  this  assault,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  an  attempt  to  force  Judah  to 
join  a  western  confederacy  which  was  forming  to  resist  the  aggres- 
sions of  Assyria.  Through  her  famous  temple  at  Jerusalem  and 
her  unbroken  Davidic  dynasty,  Judah  enjoyed  a  certain  strength 
and  stability,  and  her  presence  or  absence  meant  much  to  the 
confederacy.  Judah  was  not  unnaturally  terrified  by  the  assault ; 
the  heart  of  king  and  people  "  shook  as  shake  the  forest  trees  be- 
fore the  wind  "  (Is.  7  :  2),  and  Ahaz,  in  his  anxiety,  begins  to 
cherish  thoughts  of  calling  in  the  powerful  aid  of  Assyria  (2  Kings 
16  :  6  f.) ;  Isaiah's  attempt  to  dissuade  him  witnesses  as  strongly 
to  his  poHtical  sagacity  as  to  his  religious  faith.  The  prophet 
saw  that,  in  any  case,  the  Assyrian  would  in  his  own  interest  march 
against  the  western  nations  that  were  planning  to  defy  him,  so 
that  Judah,  if  only  she  "  kept  quiet  "  (7:4),  had  in  reality  noth- 
ing to  fear  from  Aram  and  Israel ;  and  further,  the  request  of 
Ahaz  gave  the  Assyrian  just  the  chance  he  was  only  too  anxious 
to  embrace,  of  interfering  in  the  politics  of  Judah. 

The  tense  and  graphic  scenes  (7  :  3-17)  show  how  much  Isaiah 
conceived  to  be  at  stake  in  the  attitude  of  Ahaz,  and  how  highly 
wrought  is  his  soul  over  the  crisis. 

Chap.  7  is  appropriately  preceded  by  Chap.  6.  Isaiah  must 
have  his  vision  of  the  Lord  upon  his  throne  before  he  can  face  the 
King  of  Judah. 

I.  This  historical  introduction  is  probably  borrowed  from  2 
Kings  16:  5.     The  king  of  Syria  (Aram),  always  mentioned  first 

69 


7:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


king  of  Israel,  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  war  against 
it ;  but  could  not  prevail  against  it.     And  it  was  told 

2.  the  house  of  David,  saying,  "Syria  is  ^confederate 
with  Ephraim."  And  his  heart  ^  was  moved,  and  the 
heart  of  his  people,  as  the  trees  of  the  forest  ^  are  moved 

3.  with  the  wind.  Then  said  the  Lord  unto  Isaiah,  "Go 
forth  now  to  meet  Ahaz,  thou,  and  Shear-jashub  thy 
son,  at  the  end  of  the  conduit  of  the  upper  pool,  in  the 

4.  highway  of  the  fuller's  field ;    and  say  unto  him, 
'Take  heed  and  be  quiet; 

Fear  not,  neither  let  thine  heart  be  faint, 

I  Heb.  rests  on  (perhaps  is  encamped  on).  2  gy  tremhle{d). 

throughout  the  passage,  appears  to  have  been  the  more  important 
member  of  the  confederacy.  Aram  (known  as  Syria  in  the  Eng- 
lish version)  is,  roughly  speaking,  the  country  northeast  of  Israel, 
whose  chief  city  was  Damascus. 

2.  Is  confederate  with,  Ht.  is  settling  down  upon,  Hke  swarms  of 
insects  (vs.  19).  The  Syrians  are  already  in  Ephraim,  ^.g.  Israel, 
preparatory  to  their  united  descent  upon  Judah  —  with  the  result 
that  the  hearts  of  king,  court,  and  people  are  shaken  as  shake  the 
forest  trees  before  the  wind;  finely  symbolic  of  the  fear  and  insta- 
hility  (cf.  vs.  g)  of  those  who  have  not,  like  Isaiah,  seen  the  Lord 
upon  his  throne,  and  who  do  not,  like  him,  believe  (vs.  9)  in  a 
sovereign  Providence. 

3.  Isaiah's  is  the  only  heart  that  does  not  flutter.  He  is  di- 
vinely prompted  to  go  out  to  meet  Ahaz,  who  is  to  be  found  at  the 
end  of  the  conduit,  etc.,  apparently  at  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
city,  to  which  he  had  gone  probably  to  inspect  the  water  supply  in 
view  of  the  expected  siege.  The  prophet  takes  with  him  his  son 
Shear-jashub,  whose  name  means  a  remnant  shall  turn  {i.e.  to 
Jehovah),  and  who  is  therefore  in  his  own  person,  even  though  no 
words  be  spoken,  a  living  embodiment  of  Isaiah's  message  of 
judgment  and  hope  for  a  better  Israel  to  be.  The  meeting  of 
Isaiah  and  Ahaz  is  very  suggestive ;  the  faithful  and  the  vacillat- 
ing, representatives  of  opposite  views  of  the  world  —  faith  in 
the  supremacy  of  God  and  faith  in  the  supremacy  of  human  schem- 
ing. 

4.  Take  heed,  and  keep  calm.  It  was  well  enough  for  Ahaz  to 
look  to  his  defences,  but  there  was  no  need  for  him  to  be  faint- 

70 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  7:9 


Because  of  these  two  tails  of  smoking  fire-brands, 
For  the  fierce  anger  of  Rezin  and  Syria,  and  of  the  son 
of  Remaliah. 
.  Because  Syria  hath  counselled  evil  against  thee, 

Ephraim  also,  and  the  son  of  Remaliah,  saying, 
.  "  Let  us  go  up  against  Judah  and  vex  it. 
And  let  us  make  a  breach  therein  for  us, 
And  set  up  a  king  in  the  midst  of  it,  even  the  son  of 
Tabeel:  " 
,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God, 

'It  shall  not  stand,  neither  shall  it  come  to  pass. 
,  For  the  head  of  Syria  is  Damascus, 
And  the  head  of  Damascus  is  Rezin  : 
And  within  threescore  and  five  years 
Shall  Ephraim  be  broken  in  pieces,  that  it  be  not  a 
people  : 
9.  And  the  head  of  Ephraim  is  Samaria, 

And  the  head  of  Samaria  is  RemaHah's  son. 

hearted,  because  his  two  opponents  were  literally  but  the  tails,  or 
stumps,  of  smoking  firebrands,  already  exhausted  through  former 
wars  with  the  Assyrians  and  incapable  now  of  kindling  a  blaze  in 
Judah.  Pekah,  the  son  of  Remaliah,  who  assassinated  his  pre- 
decessor Pekahiah  (2  Kings  15  :  25),  is  a  usurper,  too  contemptible 
even  to  mention  by  name. 

6.  Their  plan  was  to  break  into  Judah,  and  to  overthrow  the 
dynasty,  setting  up,  in  place  of  Ahaz,  one  whose  name  —  the  son 
o^  Tabeel  —  suggests  that  he  was  a  Syrian.  With  a  Syrian  king, 
Judah  would  be  more  easily  coerced  into  the  confederacy. 

7.  But  the  Lord  Jehovah  has  his  plans,  as  well  as  the  two  kings ; 
and  in  his  name,  Isaiah  announces  that  their  plan  is  doomed  to 
failure. 

8.  9.  The  rhythm  and  the  thought  of  these  verses  is  interrupted 
by  the  second  clause  of  vs.  8,  which,  with  a  definiteness  unusual, 
if  not  unparalleled  in  prophecy  proper,  announces  the  destruction 
of  Israel's  national  existence  within  sixty-five  years  {i.e.  about 
670  B.C.).  The  passage  appears  to  be  a  late  insertion,  having  in 
view  the  introduction  of  foreign  colonists  to  Samaria  by  Esar- 
haddon    (681^668   B.C.;     Ezr.    4:2),    or   possibly    his   successor 

71 


7: 10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


If  ye  will  not  believe, 

Surely  ye  shall  not  be  established.'  " 


The  Great  Refusal  and  the  Sign  (7  :  10-16) 

II.  And  the  Lord  spake  again  unto  Ahaz,  saying,  "  Ask  J 
thee  a  sign  of  tlie  Lord  thy  God ;   ask  it  either  in  the  " 


Assurbanipal  (Ezr.  4:  10).  When  this  clause  is  removed,  we  are 
left  with  four  rhythmic  lines,  which  Ewald  proposed  to  complete 
by  adding : 

But  the  head  of  Judah  is  Jerusalem, 
A  nd  the  head  of  Jerusalem  is  Jehovah. 

This  is  at  any  rate  the  sense  of  the  passage.  Why  should  Judah 
be  afraid  of  two  cities  whose  kings  were  but  the  stumps  of  smoking 
firebrands,  while  her  King  was  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  and  her  capital 
was  the  "  city  of  the  great  King  "  (Ps.  48 :  2)  ? 

If  ye  will  not  believe,  surely  ye  shall  not  be  established.  It  is  a 
pity  that  the  brevity  and  the  assonance  (cf.  5  :  7)  of  the  Hebrew 
words  are  so  difficult  to  reproduce.  The  general  effect  might  be 
given  thus  :  No  faith,  no  fixity.  This  is  one  of  the  greatest  words 
in  the  Bible.  The  secret  of  stability  is  trust  in  the  invisible 
King.  Ahaz  has  not  this  trust,  therefore  he  inspects  his  water- 
supply  with  fear  and  trembUng,  bethinks  him  of  a  coahtion  with 
the  Assyrians,  and  his  heart  shakes  like  the  leaves  on  the  forest 
trees;  he  is  disestablished.  Isaiah  leans  upon  his  God,  sees  him 
as  the  great  Controller  of  history,  and  he  is  "  quiet,"  strong, 
established.  Faith  is  the  secret  of  fixity,  stability,  firmness.  He 
who  really  believes  in  the  overruhng  Providence  of  God  will  always 
be  established. 

10,  II.  And  Jehovah  spake  should  probably  be  And  I  spake. 
Isaiah  sees  the  hesitation  of  Ahaz,  his  inabihty  to  rise  to  the  faith 
to  which  he  would  lift  him.  Desperately  in  earnest,  he  offers 
him  a  sign  from  Jehovah  thy  God  —  a  tender  phrase  fitted  to 
wake  dormant  covenant  memories  in  the  mind  of  Ahaz.  If  the 
king  cannot  believe  what  he  does  not  see,  perhaps  he  will  at  least 
believe  what  he  sees;  and  this  faith,  imperfect  as  it  is,  may  help 
him  to  the  other. 

For  ask  it  in  the  depth,  etc.,  we  should  probably  read :  make  it 
deep  to  Sheol  or  high  to  the  height.  Isaiah  is  ready  to  offer  Ahaz  a 
sign  from  the  underworld  or  the  upperworld  —  practically  =  any 
sign  he  may  demand.  Considering  the  prophet's  repudiation  of 
necromancy  (8 :  19),  it  is  not  likely  that  by  a  sign  from  Sheol  he 
means  the  raising  of  a  shade  from  the  dead,  as  in  i  Sam.  28.     In 

72 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


7:14 


12.  depth  or  in  the  height  above."     But  Ahaz  said,  ''I  will 

13.  not  ask,  neither  will  I  tempt  the  Lord."  And  he  said, 
"  Hear  ye  now,  O  house  of  David:  is  it  a  small  thing  for 
you  to  weary  men,  that  ye  will  weary  my  God  also? 

14.  Therefore  the  Lord  himself  shall  give  you  a  sign ; 

Behold,  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  son.  Mat.  1:23 

any  case,  this  voluntary  offer  of  Isaiah  to  give  Ahaz  a  sign  is  a 
splendid  illustration  of  the  prophet's  fearless  faith.  He  knows 
that  his  God  will  not  leave  him  in  the  lurch,  but  will  interpose  to 
help  a  weaker  faith  to  confidence  in  himself.  It  has  been  cynically 
suggested  that  it  was  fortunate  for  Isaiah  that  his  challenge  was 
not  accepted  by  Ahaz.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  Isaiah  has  no 
doubt  in  his  own  mind  that  the  miracle  he  offers  could  be  per- 
formed ;  but  what  is  more  to  the  point  is  that  iVhaz  too  has  no 
doubt.  He  is  sure  that,  if  he  requested  it,  the  miracle  would  be 
performed ;  that  is  why  he  refuses  it.  It  would  leave  him  prac- 
tically without  excuse,  and  that  he  does  not  want. 

12.  Ahaz  declines  the  sign.  His  answer  is  the  answer  of  a  man 
with  a  bad  conscience,  though  it  carries  with  it  a  certain  religious 
plausibility  —  I  will  not  tempt  Jehovah.  There  were  familiar 
historical  warnings  against  such  a  provocation  of  Jehovah  (Exod. 
17  :  2,  7 ;  cf.  Deut.  6 :  16).  But  the  sign  here  was  offered  by  one 
whom  Ahaz  felt  instinctively  to  be  a  true  prophet,  and  his  refusal 
was  only  a  refusal  to  be  led  into  the  hght  and  liberty  of  faith.  He 
stands  before  us  as  a  worldling  who  excuses  his  obstinacy  in  the 
language  of  rehgious  cant. 

13.  The  indignation  of  Isaiah  blazes  forth.  Ahaz  had  no  faith, 
and  did  not  wish  to  have  any ;  could  not  see  the  invisible  with  his 
own  eyes,  and  refused  that  which  might  have  helped  him  to  a  faith 
in  it.  King  and  court  —  the  house  of  David  —  were  infected  by 
the  same  spirit.  Isaiah  had  often  approached  them_  before  as  a 
man  with  words  of  wise  counsel,  but  here  he  is  conscious  of  being 
commissioned  by  the  most  high  God.  It  is  God  whom  they  are 
wearying,  and  not  merely  his  human  servant.  At  this  moment 
God  is  in  a  very  special  sense  behind  his  prophet;  he  calls  him 
"  my  God  "  —  Ahaz's  God  no  more  (vs.  10). 

14.  The  indignant  Isaiah  now  thrusts  a  sign  upon  the  reluctant 
and  incredulous  Ahaz  —  a  sign,  too,  which  shall  humble  him,  for 
it  will  show  that  some  among  his  people  are  not  so  incredulous 
as  he.  It  is  the  mighty  Lord,  not  the  gracious  Jehovah,  who  gives 
the  sign.  An  endless  controversy  has  gathered  round  this  sign, 
but  two  or  three  things  are  practically  certain,  (a)  One,  is  that 
the  word  rendered  virgin  would  be  more  adequately  rendered,  as 

73 


7:i5 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  shall  call  his  name  Immanuel. 

15.  Butter  and  honey  shall  he  eat, 

When  he  knoweth  to  refuse  the  evil,  and  choose  the  good. 

16.  For  before  the  child  shall  know  to  refuse  the  evil,  and   , 

choose  the  good,  I 

in  SV  mg.,  by  maiden;  the  word  implies  a  young  woman  of  mar- 
riageable age,  whether  she  is  married  or  not.  (b)  Again,  as  in  8 
Gen.  16:  II,  the  same  Hebrew  words  and  construction  {Behold,  I 
thou  art  with  child  and  shall  bear  a  son)  are  used  of  Hagar  who  is  ' 
already  with  child,  so  that  the  child  alluded  to  in  this  verse  may  be 
already  conceived ;  in  any  case,  Syria  and  Israel  are  to  be  ravaged 
in  war  while  the  child  to  be  born  is  still  very  little  (vs.  16  ;  cf .  8  :  4). 
It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  he  must  belong  to  the  immediate  future, 
and  there  can  be  no  allusion  to  the  birth  of  the  Messiah  over  seven 
centuries  after  this  date.  Duhm  has  trenchantly  argued  that  the 
real  significance  of  the  sign  lies  not  so  much  in  the  child  as  in  his 
name.  This  name  does  not  imply  that  the  child  would  be  God 
incarnate ;  it  is,  like  so  many  other  Hebrew  names  compounded 
with  Jah  or  El,  a  sentence,  which  embodies  a  confession  of  faith; 
With  us  (is)  God.  The  words  are  the  same  as  those  addressed  by 
Samuel  to  Saul;  God  (is)  with  thee  (i  Sam.  10:  7),  and  recall  the 
refrain  of  Ps.  46  (Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  with  us).  The  point  is  that 
the  defeat  of  Syria  and  Israel  at  the  hands  of  Assyria  is  imminent, 
and  mothers,  inspired  by  that  faith  in  God  which  the  incredulous 
Ahaz  lacks,  will  call  their  children  Immanuel  (With  us  is  God). 
When  disaster  comes  upon  those  two  lands,  and  the  name  of 
Immanuel  falls  upon  the  ears  of  Ahaz,  then  he  will  be  reminded  of 
his  meeting  with  Isaiah,  he  will  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  the 
reasonableness  of  the  prophet's  demand  for  faith,  and  he  will  be 
shamed  by  the  faith  of  his  own  subjects.  The  Hebrew  "  the  maid  " 
is  practically  equivalent  to  "  a  maid  " ;  and,  as  Duhm  remarks, 
since  no  particular  woman  is  named,  probably  no  particular  wo- 
man is  intended.  Gressmann,  however,  has  recently  shown  it  to 
be  possible  that,  after  all,  Isaiah  is  here  adapting  an  ancient  Se- 
mitic tradition  or  oracle  of  the  birth  of  a  wonderful  boy  who  was 
to  emancipate  his  people,  and  usher  in  an  era  of  prosperity. 
Isaiah  boldly  claims  that  this  ancient  prophecy  is  to  be  fulfilled 
not  in  the  remote,  but  in  the  immediate  future. 

15.  Butter,  i.e.  soured  milk,  and  wild  honey,  the  poor  fare  of  the  no- 
mad, are  here  probably  intended  to  suggest  the  temporary  desolation 
by  war  of  Immanuel's  land  (Judah).  The  vs.  is  usually  regarded 
as  a  gloss,  made  up  of  elements  derived  from  vss.  16  and  22. 

16.  For  before  two  or  three  years  have  passed,  Syria  and  Israel, 

74 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  7:20 


The  land  whose  two  kings  thou  abhorrest  shall  be  for- 
saken. 

Jiidah  Will  also  he  Ravaged  (7:17-25) 

17.  The  Lord  shall  bring  upon  thee,  and  upon  thy  people, 
and  upon  thy  father's  house,  days  that  have  not  come 
from  the  day  that  Ephraim  departed  from  Judah ; 
even  the  king  of  Assyria. 

18.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day. 

That  the  Lord  shall  hiss  for  the  fly  that  is  in  the  utter- 
most part  of  the  rivers  of  Egypt,  and  for  the  bee 
that  is  in  the  land  of  Assyria. 

19.  And  they  shall  come,  and  shall  rest  all  of  them 

In  the  desolate  valleys,  and  in  the  holes  of  the  rocks, 
And  upon  all  thorns,  and  upon  all  pastures. 

20.  In  that  day  shall  the  Lord  shave 

of  which  Ahaz  stood  in  fear,  would  be  ravaged  in  war  and  deso- 
lated. The  prophecy  was  literally  fulfilled ;  northern  Israel  was 
ravaged  by  the  Assyrians  in  734  B.C.  Damascus  was  captured 
in  732  B.C.,  and  the  people  of  both  districts  deported  (2  Kings 
16:  7-9;  15:  29).  Good  and  evil  may  have  a  moral  meaning, 
but  it  may  equally  well  refer  to  pleasant  and  unpleasant  kinds  of 
food  (cf.  2  Sam.  19  :  35) ;  the  first  meaning  would  imply  an  older 
child  (cf.  8:4). 

Vs.  17  links  the  last  section  with  this  one.  There  the  message 
was  that  the  coalition  was  in  reality  impotent,  and  would  be  de- 
stroyed. Here  Isaiah  foretells  for  Judah  a  fate  similar  to  that 
which  was  to  overtake  Syria  and  Israel  —  desolation  —  at  the 
hands  of  the  very  people  whose  favor  Ahaz  had  courted  (2  Kings 
16  :  7  f.),  and  whose  power  he  was  ready  to  place  above  Jehovah's, 

17.  Ephraim  {i.e.  Israel)  departed  from  Judah.  This  is  the 
Judsean  conception  of  the  history.  In  point  of  fact,  the  rupture 
was  as  much  due  to  Solomon's  apostasy  from  the  ideals  and  tradi- 
tions of  Israel  as  to  anything  else. 

18-20.  Jehovah  will  summon  (cf.  5 :  26)  foreign  peoples  — 
especially  the  Assyrians  —  to  punish  his  own  people  in  Judah, 
upon  every  corner  of  whose  land  they  will  settle  like  pestiferous 
flies  and  stinging  hees.     The  king  whom  Ahaz  had  hired  to  help 

75 


7:21  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


With  a  razor  that  is  hired,  which  is  in  the  parts  beyond 

the  River,  even  with  the  king  of  Assyria, 
The  head  and  the  hair  of  the  feet ; 
And  it  shall  also  consume  the  beard. 

21.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 

That  a  man  shall  nourish  a  young  cow,  and  two  sheep  : 

22.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  for  the  abundance  of  milk 

that  they  shall  give  he  shall  eat  butter : 
For  butter  and  honey  shall  every  one  eat  that  is  left  in 
the  midst  of  the  land. 

23.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day. 

That  every  place  where  there  were  a  thousand  vines  at 

a  thousand  silverlings. 
Shall  even  be  for  briers  and  thorns. 

24.  With  arrows  and  with  bow  shall  one  come  thither ; 
Because  all  the  land  shall  be  brier  and  thorns. 

25.  And  all  the  hills  that  were  digged  with  the  mattock, 
Thou  shalt  not  come  hither  for  fear  of  briers  and  thorns. 
But  it  shall  be  for  the  sending  forth  of  oxen,  and  for  the 

treading  of  sheep." 


him  (2  Kings  16:8)  would,  like  a  razor,  shave  the  land  bare  — 
of  crops  and  people. 

21,  22.  So  thorough  would  this  process  of  "  shaving  "  be  that 
nothing  would  be  possible  but  the  meagre  life  of  a  poor  shepherd, 
whose  fare  was  butter  {i.e.  soured  milk)  and  wild  honey.  (The 
first  half  of  vs.  22  is  usually  regarded  as  an  intrusion.) 

23-25.  The  vine-clad  hills  would  also  be  reduced  to  a  howling 
waste  of  thorns  and  thistles.  So  thick  would  be  the  jungle  that 
wild  beasts  would  have  their  home  there,  and  hunters  come  with 
bow  and  arrow,  and  the  once  carefully  tended  vineyard  slopes 
would  be  trampled  upon  by  sheep  and  oxen.  The  ravaged  vines 
are  represented  as  having  been  very  costly  —  a  silver  shekel 
each  (about  60  cents :   two  shillings  and  six  pence). 

It  has  been  happily  suggested  by  Cheyne  that  this  prophecy 
was  delivered  after  Ahaz's  appeal  for  assistance  to  the  Assyrian 
king.     Isaiah  saw  that,  whatever  its  immediate  effects  might  be, 

76 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  8:3 


The  Fall  of  Damascus  and  Samaria  (8  : 1-4) 

And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  "Take  thee  a  great 
tablet,  and  write  upon  it  ^  with  the  pen  of  a  man,  '  For 
Maher-shalal-hash-baz '  ;  and  ^  I  will  take  unto  me 
faithful  witnesses  to  record,  Uriah  the  priest,  and 
Zechariah,  the  son  of  Jeberechiah."  And  I  went  unto 
the  prophetess ;  and  she  conceived,  and  bare  a  son. 
Then  said  the  Lord  unto  me, ''  Call  his  name  Maher- 

1  m.  in  common  characters.        2  Qr.  take. 


the  ultimate  result  of  Assyrian  intervention  would  assuredly  be 
the  desolation  of  Judah  (i  :  7). 

8 :  1-4.  This  prophecy  must  have  been  delivered  about  the 
same  time  as  7  :  3-16,  clearly  before  Ahaz's  appeal  to  Assyria, 
after  which  it  required  no  prophetic  eye  to  foresee  the  fall  of 
Damascus  and  Samaria.  The  earnestness  and  variety  of  the 
prophecies  of  this  period  show  how  powerfully  Isaiah's  mind  was 
excited  by  the  strain  of  the  situation,  yet  beneath  it  all  he  is  calm 
and  sure.  He  has  seen  his  God,  he  understands  his  purpose,  and 
he  knows  in  advance  the  issue  of  the  crisis. 

1.  As  Isaiah  had  appealed  to  the  king  in  vain  (7  :  12),  he  now 
appeals,  through  his  tablet  with  the  strange  inscription,  to  the 
people.  The  words  were  to  be  written  with  the  pen  of  a  common 
man,  i.e.  in  letters  intelligible  to  him.  Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 
"  crowded,  clashing  letters,  full  to  the  dullest  ears  of  rumors  of 
war  :  Speeds poil-Hnrry-prey  "  (G.  A.  Smith,  Isaiah,  Vol.  1,  p.  120). 
The  strange  inscription,  presumably  hung  in  some  conspicuous 
pubHc  place,  would  excite  curiosity. 

2.  Read,  with  the  Greek  version.  And  take  unto  fne  reliable 
witnesses.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  these  witnesses  were  prob- 
ably no  particular  friends  of  Isaiah ;  least  of  all  if  Uriah  is  to  be 
identified  with  the  priest  whom  the  idolatrous  Ahaz  later  com- 
missioned to  build  an  altar  in  accordance  with  the  pattern  he  had 
seen  at  Damascus  (2  Kings  16:  10  f.).  Of  Zechariah,  who  must 
have  been  a  public  man,  we  know  nothing. 

3.  The  mysterious  name  is  conferred  upon  Isaiah's  new-born 
child ;  the  message  it  implies  —  which  is  not  explained  till  vs.  4  — 
is  incarnate  in  him  (cf.  note  on  7  :  14).  Isaiah's  wife  appears  to  be 
called  the  prophetess  by  courtesy. 

77 


8:4  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


4.  shalal-hash-baz.  For  before  the  child  shall  have 
knowledge  to  cry,  'My  father,'  and  'My  mother,' 
the  riches  of  Damascus  and  the  spoil  of  Samaria  shall 
be  carried  away  before  the  king  of  Assyria." 

The  Invasion  of  Judah  (8  :  5-8) 

5.  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  me  yet  again,  saying, 

6.  "  Forasmuch  as  this  people  hath  refused  the  waters  of 

Shiloah 
That  go  softly. 
And  rejoice  in  Rezin, 
And  RemaUah's  son ; 

4.  Before  the  child  was  two  years  of  age  (cf.  7  :  16),  Damascus 
and  Samaria,  the  capital  cities  of  Syria  and  Israel,  would  be 
spoiled  by  Assyria.  The  two  parts  of  the  enigmatic  name  refer 
to  the  two  kingdoms,  whose  spoil  is  hurried  off  to  Assyria.  Now 
the  meaning  is  clear.  The  message  of  deliverance  for  Judah  is 
essentially  the  same  as  Isaiah  had  already  given  to  the  king  (7  :  16). 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  Damascus  fell  in  732,  and  although  Samaria 
did  not  fall  till  721  B.C.,  the  essence  of  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled 
in  the  devastation  wrought  on  northern  Israel  in  734  B.C.  (2 
Kings  15 :  29).  The  precision  with  which  Isaiah  foretold  the 
fate  of  these  countries  in  the  very  near  future  is  very  remarkable. 
Throughout  this  crisis  he  must  have  been  in  remarkably  intimate 
communion  with  his  God  (cf.  vs.  11). 

8 :  5-8.  Here,  as  in  7  :  17  ff.,  is  a  prophecy  of  judgment  follow- 
ing one  of  dehverance  :  Assyria  will  come  like  a  flood  and  deluge 
the  land.  The  rejection  of  the  waters  of  Shiloah  (vs.  6)  appears 
to  imply  Ahaz's  appeal  to  Assyria,  and  is  therefore  later  than 
8 :  1-4. 

6.  This  people  —  Judah.  A  tunnel  ran  from  Gihon  (now  the 
Virgin's  Spring),  on  the  east  side  of  Jerusalem,  to  the  reservoir  at 
the  southeast  angle  of  the  city;  and  the  waters  that  ran,  or  rather 
went  softly,  leisurely,  through  this  conduit  from  spring  to  pool 
(cf.  7  :  3)  were  the  waters  of  the  Shiloah.  The  people  are  as 
unbelieving  as  the  king ;  they  rejected  the  waters  of  Shiloah,  or 
rather  him  of  whose  unobtrusive  grace  the}^  were  the  emblem 
(Ps.  46  :  4);  and  they  melt,  i.e.  faint  as  we  should  perhaps  read, 
instead  of  the  meaningless  and  [in  Hebrew]  ungrammatical 
rejoice,  before  Rezin  and  Pekah. 

78 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  8:9 


7.  Now  therefore,  behold,  the  Lord  bringeth  up  upon  them 

The  waters  of  the  River,  strong  and  many, 
Even  the  king  of  Assyria  and  all  his  glory  : 
And  he  shall  come  up  over  all  his  channels. 
And  go  over  all  his  banks  : 

8.  And  he  shall  sweep  onward  into  Judah  ;  he  shall  over- 

throw and  pass  through: 
He  shall  reach  even  to  the  neck  ; 
And  the  stretching  out  of  ^  his  wings  shall  fill 
The  breadth  of  thy  land,  O  Immanuel." 

The  Futility  of  Opposition  to  Judah  (8:9,  10) 

9.  ^  Make  an  uproar,  O  ye  peoples,  and  ye  shall  be  broken 

in  pieces; 
And  give  ear,  all  ye  of  the  far  countries  : 
Gird  yourselves,  and  ye  shall  be  broken  in  pieces ; 
Gird  yourselves,  and  ye  shall  be  broken  in  pieces. 

1  SV  its.        2  Gr.  take  knowledge. 

7  f .  If  they  have  rejected  Jehovah,  they  will  have  Assyria ;  if 
they  have  rejected  the  gentle  Shiloah,  they  will  have  the  terrible 
Euphrates,  which  will  overflow  its  banks  and  deluge  Judah  — 
symbol  of  the  havoc  to  be  wrought  by  Assyria,  a  havoc  so  complete 
that  only  Judah's  head  will  be  above  water. 

The  stretching  out  of  its  (SV)  wings,  etc.  This  sentence  is 
difficult.  If  the  wings  are  the  wings  of  the  river,  Assyria  is  now 
regarded  as  a  bird  of  prey,  and  the  metaphor  is  mixed.  Possibly, 
however,  the  reference  is  to  his  {i.e.,  Jehovah's)  protecting  wings  — 
a  thought  which  would  modify  the  preceding  idea  of  judgment; 
cf.  6:  13c.  Instead  of  'Uhy  land,  O  Immanuel,"  we  should  per- 
haps translate  "  the  land  ;  'for  with  us  is  God,"  taking  the  words, 
as  in  vs.  10,  in  their  literal  meaning.  This  concluding  promise 
of  protection  (cf .  2  :  2-4 ;  4  :  2-6)  would  be  in  the  spirit  of  the  two 
following  verses. 

8 :  9  f .  These  verses  can  hardly  have  been  spoken  at  the  same 
time  as  the  preceding  threat  of  devastation.  Formally  addressed 
to  the  nations,  they  are  really  words  of  encouragement  to  Judah. 

79 


8;  10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


10.  Take  counsel  together,  and  it  shall  be  brought  to  nought : 

Speak  the  word,  and  it  shall  not  stand ;  for  God  is 
with  us. 

None  is  to  he  Feared  hut  Jehovah  (8  :  11-15) 

11.  For  the  Lord  spake  thus  to  me  with  a  strong  hand, 
and  instructed  me  that  I  should  not  walk  in  the  way  of 
this  people,  sa^dng, 

12.  "Say  ye  not,  'A  ^  conspiracy.' 

Concerning  all  whereof  this  people  shall  say,  'A 
conspiracy '  : 
Neither  fear  ye  their  fear. 
Nor  be  in  dread  thereof. 

1  AV  confederacy. 

9,  10.  The  meaning  is:  rage  and  prepare  yourselves  for  the  fray- 
as  ye  please,  your  plans  will  be  frustrated,  for  with  us  is  God. 

The  counsel  and  the  word  (vs.  10)  may  refer  to  the  invasion  of 
Judah  (7  :  6),  and  the  peoples  are  primarily  Syria  and  Israel. 
Because  these  nations  could  not  be  properly  called  distant,  it  has 
been  inferred  that  this  passage,  with  its  high  hopes  for  Judah,  is  a 
later  insertion.  It  may,  however,  quite  well  be  a  daring  generali- 
zation, natural  to  Isaiah  in  the  tense  emotion  of  that  crisis.  Every 
nation  opposed  to  Judah,  he  is  confident,  would  prove  to  be  as 
impotent  as  Syria  and  Israel:  for  El,  the  strong  God,  is  with  Ju- 
dah. 

8:  11-15.  How  difl&cult  it  was  to  keep  one's  head  clear  and 
one's  heart  calm  in  the  crisis  created  by  the  coalition  of  Syria 
and  Israel  against  Judah  is  well  illustrated  by  this  section :  only 
one  steadied  by  Jehovah's  mighty  hand  was  equal  to  it. 

11.  Isaiah  has  the  sense  of  being  under  powerful  divine  con- 
straint, mastered  by  JehovaWs  hand  —  another  proof  of  the  intense 
emotional  experiences  of  the  prophet  during  the  crisis  (cf.  7  :  13). 
Even  he  was  tempted  to  walk  in  the  way  of  this  people,  to  be 
caught  by  the  popular  excitement,  and  depressed^  by  the  popular 
despondency ;   but  the  divine  hand  kept  him  straight  and  steady. 

12,  13.  The  prophet  must  have  a  different  outlook  and  a  differ- 
ent vocabulary  from  the  people.  What  they  call  conspiracy  or 
confederacy  (this  word  of   AV  gives  the  sense  well),  he  and   his 

80 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  .        8:17 


Rom.  9 :  3a 


13.  The  Lord  of  hosts,  him  shall  ye  sanctify ; 

And  let  him  be  your  fear,  and  let  him  be  your  dread." 

14.  And  he  shall  be  for  a  sanctuary ;  but  for  a  stone  of  i  Pet.  a :  8 

stumbling 
And  for  a  rock  of  offence  to  both  the  houses  of  Israel, 
For  agin  and  for  a  snare  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem. 

15.  And  many  shall  stumble  thereon, 
And  fall,  and  be  broken, 
And  be  snared,  and  be  taken. 

Isaiah's  Patient  Hope  (8  :  16-18) 

16.  Bind  thou  up  the  testimony,  seal  the  ^  law  among 

17.  my  disciples.     And   I   will  wait  for  the  Lord,  that 

1  m.  teaching. 

disciples  (plur.)  are  not  to  call  confederacy.  To  any  one  who 
understands  the  purpose  of  Jehovah  the  coalition  of  Rezin  and 
Pekah  is  nothing  to  be  afraid  of.  But  count  Jehovah  of  Hosts 
the  conspirator  —  it  is  he  and  not  they  that  you  ought  to  fear  and 
dread.  He  is  the  Lord  of  history  —  not  they.  The  difference 
between  sanctify  and  count  him  the  conspirator,  is,  in  Hebrew,  but 
the  fraction  of  a  consonant ;  and  the  latter  word,  with  its  echo  of 
vs.  12,  being  the  more  daring  and  original,  is  the  more  natural  in 
so  impassioned  a  context. 

14,  15.  Omit  the  word  sanctuary,  which  disturbs  rhythm  and 
context.  The  path  of  those  who  do  not,  like  Isaiah,  believe  in 
Jehovah,  and  his  control  of  history,  would  be  beset  by  obstacles 
and  dangers  manifold  —  stones  to  trip  them  up,  and  snares  to 
hold  them  fast.  Their  way  (vs.  11)  would  be  unhappy,  unpros- 
perous,  deadly  ;  at  least,  it  would  be  so  for  many.  Not,  however, 
for  all ;  not,  for  example,  for  Isaiah  and  his  band.  Here  we  get 
another  glimpse  of  the  doctrine  of  the  remnant. 

8:  16-18.  The  people  to  whom  Isaiah  speaks  are  mostly  unbe- 
lievers (vs.  12),  dull  of  hearing  and  sight  (6  :  9  f.) ;  many,  most,  are 
stumbling  (vs.  15).  He  will  declare  his  message  no  more  —  at 
least  for  a  season.  Disappointed  with  the  people,  he  will  wait  for 
his  God.    That  is  the  general  sense  of  1 6  f . ,  but  .the  detail  is  difficult. 

16.  This  verse  looks  like  a  command  of  Jehovah  to  Isaiah, 
though  in  that  case  the  phrase  my  disciples  is  strange.  But  in 
vs.  17  the  speaker  is  clearly  Isaiah,  and  vs.  16  should  perhaps  be 
G  81 


8:i8  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


hideth  his  face  from  the  house  of  Jacob,  and  I  will  look 

Heb.  3:13     18.  for  him.     Behold,  I  and  the  children  whom  the  Lord 

hath  given  me  are  for  signs  and  for  wonders  in  Israel 

from  the  Lord  of  hosts  which  dwelleth  in  mount  Zion. 

The  Awful  Plight  of  Unbelieving  Judah  (8  :  19-22) 

19.       And  when    they  shall  say  unto  you,    "Seek  unto 
them  that  have  familiar  spirits  and  unto  the  wizards, 

pointed  to  mean  I  will  bind  up  the  testimony  and  seal  the  law, 
etc.  The  law  is  Isaiah's  teaching  (cf.  i  :  10)  throughout  the  pres- 
ent crisis  (cf.  7:4);  the  testimony  is  the  same  thing  considered 
as  evidential.  This  he  will  write,  bind  up,  seal  like  a  legal  docu- 
ment, and  commit  to  his  disciples,  seeing  that  the  people  as  a 
whole  are  obdurate,  and  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  his  message.  The 
phrases,  hind,  seal,  may  however  be  metaphorical,  and  he  may  be 
merely  resolving  to  set  his  message  firmly  in  the  heart  of  his  dis- 
ciples. Scholars  have  often  quoted  this  passage  as  marking  "  the 
birth  of  the  conception  of  the  Church,  the  first  step  in  the  emancipa- 
tion of  spiritual  religion  from  the  forms  of  political  life  "  (W. 
Robertson  Smith,  Prophets  oj  Israel,  p.  275);  the  nation  had  re- 
jected the  message,  a  new  community  was  formed  in  which  it 
could  be  preserved  and  perpetuated.  Unfortunately  for  this 
interpretation,  however,  the  word  disciples  is  not  so  firmly  estab- 
lished in  the  text  as  one  might  wish.  Judging  by  the  Greek  ver- 
sion, the  original  reading  may  have  been,  "  bind  the  testimony, 
seal  the  instruction,  teach  it  not  "  —  in  which  case  the  picturesque 
figures  of  the  disciples  would  disappear.  On  an}'  view,  however, 
the  verse  testifies  to  the  deep  sorrow  of  Isaiah  at  the  popular  lack 
of  response  to  his  message  ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  such 
a  man  as  Isaiah  had  disciples. 

17.  But  his  sorrow  is  not  without  hope.  The  divine  face  is 
hidden  from  the  people,  they  are  too  blind  to  see  it  (6:9  f.),  but 
Isaiah  has  seen  it  (6  :  i),  and  I  will  look  for,  hope  in,  him. 

18.  If  Isaiah  could  not  preach,  he  did  not  need.  He  and  his 
children  were  living  sermons,  incarnate  pledges  of  the  future. 
Their  very  names  were  eloquent  and  prophetic  —  Isaiah  (Je- 
hovah saves),  Shear-jashuh  (7  :  3,  a  remnant  will  turn),  and  Maher- 
shalal-hash-haz  (8 :  1-4)  —  prophetic  of  mercy  as  well  as  of 
judgment.  He  could  not  look  on  them  without  thinking  of  the 
future  and  of  God  —  the  God  whose  home  was  on  mount  Zion, 
and  whose  glory  he  had  seen  there  (6 :  i). 

82 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  8:21 


that  chirp  and  that  mutter"  :  should  not  a  people  seek 
unto  their  God  ?  on  behalf  of  the  living  should  they  seek 

20.  unto  the  dead?  "To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony!  " 
if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word,  surely  there 
is  no  morning  for  them. 

21.  And  they  shall  pass  through  it,  hardly  bestead  and 

hungry  : 
And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that,  when  they  shall  be 

hungry,  they  shall  fret  themselves. 
And  curse  ^  by  their  king  and  by  their  God, 

1  Or  om.  hy. 

8:  19-22.  The  depths  of  despair  to  which  the  unbelievers  will 
be  reduced  are  strikingly  portrayed  in  this  passage.  It  is  a  very 
powerful  picture  of  the  effects  of  an'Assyrian  invasion. 

19.  The  contrast  between  the  popular  way  (vs.  11)  and  Isaiah's 
is  vividly  suggested  here.  The  prophet  can  always  consult  the 
hving  God:  the  people,  in  their  despair,  turn  like  Saul  (i  Sam.  28) 
to  necromancy  and  witchcraft.  On  this  view  of  the  verse,  the 
first  half  represents  the  people's  speech,  and  the  second  the 
prophet's  indignant  reply.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  regard  the 
whole  verse  as  spoken  by  the  people.  In  that  case  the  last  clause 
should  be  translated,  On  behalf  of  the  living  should  they  not  seek 
unto  the  dead?  and  the  dead  would  be  the  gods  consulted  (cf. 
the  previous  clause),  exactly  as  in  i  Sam.  28 :  13  the  shade  of 
Samuel  is  called  a  god.  For  similar  superstitious  practices,  cf. 
2  :  6.  We  might  translate  ghosts  and  familiar  spirits  that  cheep 
and  moan  (Cheyne).  The  Greek  suggests,  what  is  very  probable, 
that  the  professors  of  the  arts  here  alluded  to  were  ventriloquists. 

20.  This  verse  is  very  obscure.  The  meaning  may  be  that, 
realizing  the  impotence  of  those  whom  they  have  consulted,  the 
desperate  people  will  clamor  for  some  such  prophetic  instruction 
as  that  which  is  now  sealed  up,  because  they  have  already  rejected 
it  (vs.  16) ;  their  cry  will  be  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony 
(cf.  Amos  8  :  11).  Such  assuredly  will  he  the  words  uttered  by  those 
for  whom  there  is  no  daybreak.  The  thick  night  has  fallen  about 
them,  unbroken  by  any  light  from  heaven;  they  are  wrapped  in 
despair. 

21.  22.  The  spiritual  desolation  is  accompanied  by  physical 
distress.  In  their  flight  through  it,  i.e.  the  land,  the  desperate 
people  are  goaded  by  their  hunger  into  indignation  and  blasphemy, 

83 


8:22  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


22.  And  turn  their  faces  upward  :  and  they  shall  look  unto 
the  earth, 
And  behold,  distress  and  darkness,  the  gloom  of  anguish; 
And  into  thick  darkness  they  shall  be  driven  away. 

The  Great  Deliverance  and  the  Glorious  King  (9 : 1-7) 

9.      But  there  shall  be  no  gloom  to  her  that  was  in  anguish. 

In  the  former  time  he  brought  into  contempt  the 

land  of  Zebulun  and  the  land  of  NaphtaH,  but  in  the 

latter  time  hath  he  made  it  glorious,  by  the  way  of 

the  sea,  beyond  Jordan,  ^  GaHlee  of  the  nations. 

I  m.  the  district. 


cursing  the  king  who  cannot  and  the  God  who  will  not  save  them. 
In  all  directions  they  will  look  for  help,  up  to  the  heaven,  down  to 
the  earth,  but  everywhere  will  be  distress  and  gloom. 

9 :  1-7.  The  contrast  between  the  joy  of  this  section  and  the 
anguish  of  the  last  is  very  dramatic.  The  darkness  in  which  it 
was  wrapped  is  illuminated  by  a  great  light,  the  distress  of  inva- 
sion gives  place  to  the  joy  of  deliverance  and  victory ;  and  the 
gladness  of  these  latter  days  is  crowned  by  the  birth  of  a  child, 
who,  possessed  with  no  less  than  marvellous  gifts  for  government, 
is  destined  to  sit  upon  the  throne  of  David  —  a  throne  whose 
stability  and  perpetuity  are  now  guaranteed. 

I.  The  transition  from  the  last  section  to  this  is  mediated  by  this 
verse.  This  is  especially  obvious,  if  we  accept  the  translation  of 
RV  —  But  there  shall  he  no  gloom  to  her  that  was  in  anguish,  etc. 
AV  seriously  mistranslates  the  whole  verse.  As,  however,  the 
last  section  had  dealt  with  an  invasion  of  Judah,  while  the  dis- 
tricts mentioned  in  this  verse  as  first  humbled  and  then  lifted  to 
honor  belong  to  Israel,  it  has  been  not  unnaturally  suggested  that 
this  verse  which,  unlike  the  poem  that  follows,  is  written  in  prose, 
was  added  to  connect  the  two  sections,  by  one  who  referred  the 
darkness  of  vs.  2  to  the  deportation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  north- 
ern districts  of  Israel  by  the  Assyrian  king  (2  Kings  15  :  29). 

The  sea  is  the  sea  of  Galilee.  Beyond  the  Jordan,  i.e.  east  of  it 
—  Gilead.  Galilee,  rather  the  circuit  of  the  nations  —  part  of 
the  district  later  known  as  Galilee.  Both  in  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment times  its  population  appears  to  have  been  very  heterogeneous. 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


9:4 


16 
Lk.  z :  79 


2.  The  people  that  walked  in  darkness 

Have  seen  a  great  light : 
They  that  dwelt  in  the  land  of  the  ^  shadow  of  death,     Mat.  4 :  14- 
Upon  them  hath  the  hght  shined. 

3.  Thou  hast  multiplied  the  nation, 

-  Thou  hast  increased  their  joy  ; 
They  joy  before  thee  according  to  the  joy  in  harvest, 
As  men  rejoice  when  they  divide  the  spoil. 

4.  For  the  yoke  of  his  burden, 

And  the  staff  of  his  shoulder, 
The  rod  of  his  oppressor, 

Thou  hast  broken  as  in  the  day  of  Midian. 

1  m.  deep  darkness.        2  a  Hebrew  variant  is  thou  didst  not  increase  the  joy. 

2.  It  was  natural  and  almost  inevitable  that  the  light  that  arose 
upon  the  people  of  Galilee  should  be  interpreted  by  Jewish- Chris- 
tians as  a  prophecy  of  the  appearance  of  Jesus  in  Galilee  at  the 
beginning  of  his  ministry  (Mat  4:  12-16). 

3.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  RV  —  Thou  hast  increased 
their  joy  —  is  right,  as  against  AV  {thou  hast  not  increased  the 
joy).  The  Hebrew  words  for  not  and  to  him  (Thou  hast  increased 
the  joy  to  him,  i.e.  the  nation)  sound  ahke  (viz.,  lo) ;  and  the 
parallelism  excludes  the  possibility  of  the  negative.  This  same 
law  of  parallelism,  however,  suggests  the  high  probability  of  the 
following  translation,  which  greatly  improves  the  parallelism,  and 
rests  upon  a  very  simple  emendation  —  "  Thou  hast  multiphed 
the  gladness  and  increased  the  joy."  The  joy  is  described  as  the 
keenest  known  to  Hebrew  experience  —  harvest  joy  and  battle 
joy,  the  joy  of  the  reaper  and  that  of  the  victor  as  he  divides  the 
spoil. 

4.  The  joy  is  explained  by  the  defeat  of  the  enemy,  i.e.  the 
Assyrian.  The  yoke  which  burdened  him  {i.e.  Israel,  or  rather 
Judah ;  see  note  on  vs.  i)  and  the  staff  with  which  the  oppressor, 
or  rather  taskmaster,  beat  his  shoulder  or  back,  are  broken  in 
pieces;  it  is  as  a  deliverance  from  a  second  Egyptian  bondage. 
The  Assyrians  are  routed  as  completely  as  the  Midianites  were  in 
that  great  day,  i.e.  battle-day,  in  the  olden  times,  by  Gideon 
(Jud.  chaps.  6-8).  The  discomfiture  of  the  enemy,  and  indeed  all 
the  incidents  of  this  section,  the  rising  of  the  light,  the  birth  of  the 

85 


9:5  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


5.  For  1  all  the  armour  of  the  armed  man  in  the  tumult, 
And  the  garments  rolled  in  blood, 
Shall  even  be  for  burning, 
For  fuel  of  fire. 


6.  For  unto  us  a  child  is  born. 
Unto  us  a  son  is  given  ; 
And  the  government  shall  be 
Upon  his  shoulder : 


1  m.  exery  hoot  oj  the  booted  warrior. 


child,  etc.,  belong  to  the  future;  but  they  are  described  in  the  perfect 
tense,  because  to  the  prophet  they  are  divine  certainties. 

5.  A  splendid  verse. 

For  every  hoot  of  the  hooted  warrior  that  thundered  along, 

And  garment  rolled  in  hlood, 
Shall  he  doomed  to  the  hurning, 
Fuel  for  the  fire. 

Every  trace  of  war  and  its  accoutrements  —  heavy  warrior 
boots  and  bloody  cloaks  —  must  vanish. 

6.  Associated  with  this  deliverance,  and  indeed  the  most  blessed 
feature  of  the  happy  days  to  which  the  prophet  looks  forward, 
is  the  birth,  the  gift  (as  he  also  calls  it),  of  a  child,  none  other  than 
the  Messianic  king.  On  his  shoulders  rests  the  government,  the 
insignia  of  government  —  perhaps  a  royal  robe  is  intended. 
The  name  by  which  he  is  to  be  called  indicates  how  splendid  is 
his  equipment  for  the  royal  office.  Particular  emphasis  is  laid 
upon  the  two  most  essential  qualities,  —  wisdom  and  power,  —  and 
his  rule  will  guarantee  the  peace  and  welfare  of  his  people.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  his  name  is  fourfold,  not  (as  in  AV  and 
RV)  fivefold ;  the  first  two  words,  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  ought 
to  be  taken  together,  whether  we  interpret  the  Hebrew  as  a 
wonder  of  a  counsellor,  or  one  whose  counsel  is  wonderful  (practically 
=  wonderful  counsellor).  And  his  strength  is  as  divine  as  his  wis- 
dom. The  phrase  Mighty  God,  however,  is  somewhat  misleading, 
suggesting  as  it  does  to  English  ears  that  the  king  is  God  incarnate. 
The  same  Hebrew  words  may  indeed  be  used  of  God  (cf.  Jer.  32  : 
18),  but,  in  such  a  context  as  this,  their  flavor  would  be  better 
represented  by  some  such  translation  as  Warrior  Divine,  or  Hero 
of  Superhutnan  Might;   Deity  is  in  him,  but  he  is  not  Deity.     Un- 

86 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  9:7 


k 


And  his  name  shall  be  called 

^  Wonderful,  Counsellor, 
Mighty  God,  Everlasting  Father, 

Prince  of  Peace. 

7.  2  Of  the  increase  of  his  government 

And  of  peace  there  shall  be  no  end, 
Upon  the  throne  of  David  ^^- '  =  ^^  *' 

And  upon  his  kingdom, 
To  establish  it,  and  to  uphold  it 

With  judgement  and  with  righteousness 
From  henceforth  even  for  ever. 

The  zeal  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  perform  this. 

1  m.  wonderful  counsellor.        2  Qr  great  {shall  be)  his  government. 

fortunately  much  doubt  attaches  to  the  meaning  of  the  words 
rendered  Everlasting  Father.  Father  of  duration,  or  eternity,  has 
been  explained  as  (i)  one  possessing  the  attribute  of  eternity,  i.e. 
eternal;  or  (ii)  fatherly  (cf.  Job  29:16)  forever.  Neither  ex- 
planation is  very  satisfactory,  and  there  is  a  strong  temptation, 
especially  in  so  military  a  context,  to  adopt  the  other  possible 
translation.  Father  of  booty,  i.e.,  the  Messianic  king  is  one  who,  as  a 
warrior  divine,  vanquishes  his  foes,  divides  the  booty,  and  secures 
peace  for  his  people,  becoming  thus  in  very  truth  a  prince  of  peace. 
But  in  so  lofty  a  context,  everlasting  father  appears,  perhaps,  to 
be  the  most  appropriate  meaning  after  all. 

7.  The  perpetuity  of  a  kingdom  with  such  a  king  is  guaranteed, 
especially  as  it  is  supported  by  those  ethical  qualities  which  alone 
exalt  a  nation ;  it  is  the  justice  and  righteousness  that  ensure  its 
continuance  from  henceforth  and  even  for  ever.  Religiously 
speaking,  the  certainty  of  this  whole  brilliant  future  is  guaranteed 
by  the  zeal  of  Jehovah — jealousy  on  its  good  side,  that  warm 
passion  with  which  Jehovah  defends  and  maintains  his  interests 
and  his  honor.  With  the  omission  of  two  Hebrew  letters  which 
appear  to  have  been  inadvertently  repeated,  the  first  clause  of  vs. 
7  runs  thus  :  "  Great  is  the  {i.e.,  his)  government,  and  without  end 
the  peace." 

Though  in  this  remarkable  poem,  the  kingdom  and  the  king 
are  sketched  in  very  rapid  outUnes,  and  the  details  are  few,  every 
stroke  tells.     In  the  future  days  war  will  be  abolished,  and  its 

87 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Doom  of  Israel  (9  :  8-10 ;  4) 

8.  The  Lord  sent  ^  a  word  into  Jacob, 
And  it  hath  Ughted  upon  Israel. 

1  Gr.  death. 

cruel  symbols  will  disappear  (2:4);  the  great  King  will  be  gifted 
with  superhuman  wisdom,  and  with  a  strength  which  he  will  use 
in  the  interests  of  peace  ;  and  his  throne  rests  securely  upon  a  moral 
and  religious  foundation.  His  empire  is  established  and  upheld 
not  by  brute  force,  although  the  king  is  divinely  strong,  but  by 
justice  and  righteousness,  and  it  will  be  as  eternal  as  they.  Surely 
it  is  not  unnatural  to  see  in  these  great  words  an  adumbration  of 
the  empire  established  by  Christ. 

9:  8-10:  4.  Somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Amos  4:  6-12,  Isaiah 
here,  in  a  very  powerful  and  artistically  constructed  poem,  de- 
scribes the  various  blows  which  are  to  fall  on  Israel  —  blows 
which,  on  the  one  hand,  were  intended  as  chastisement,  but  which, 
on  the  other,  were  designed  to  bring  the  people  back  to  the  God 
who  had  smitten  them  (vs.  13;  cf.  Amos  4:6,  8,  10).  In  spite 
of  the  tone  of  10 :  1-4,  and  of  the  vagueness  of  the  language  in 
9  :  8,  it  seems  reasonably  certain  that  this  message  was  addressed 
not  to  Israel  and  Judah  together,  but  to  Israel  only  (cf.  vs.  9). 
As  Syria  (Aram)  is  hostile  to  Israel  (vs.  12),  the  passage  must  have 
been  written  before  735  B.C.,  when  the  two  countries  united  in 
their  assault  upon  Judah  (7:  i  ff.),  and  is  therefore  one  of  the 
earhest  of  Isaiah's  prophecies.  It  is  not  easy  to  say  whether  the 
passage  refers  to  the  past,  or  the  future  —  whether  it  is  a  descrip- 
tion (as  in  Amos)  of  blows  that  have  already  fallen,  to  be  followed 
by  the  more  awful  blow  which  will  be  dealt  by  the  terrible  Assyr- 
ian army  (for  it  is  all  but  universally  agreed  that  5  :  26-30  is  the 
real  climax  of  this  passage),  or  whether  it  is  a  prediction.  The 
latter  seems  the  more  probable.  The  past  tenses  prove  nothing; 
for,  as  in  9 :  2-7,  they  may  well  be  prophetic.  The  jaunty  tone 
of  vs.  10  seems  to  show  that  the  catastrophes  alluded  to  in  vss.  12, 
18,  have  not  yet  occurred.  But  some  of  them,  e.g.  the  anarchy 
and  civil  war  in  vss.  18-20,  are  only  too  probable. 

Israel  will  he  assailed  in  War  by  her  Neighbors  (9  :  8-12) 

8.  The  word  is  the  oracle  that  follows,  uttered  by  Isaiah.  It  is 
almost  personified  (cf.  Ps.  107:  20;  147:  15);  it  has  been  sent 
and  it  shall  light  (lit.  fall)  with  deadly  effect  upon  Israel,  i.e.  not 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  9:12 


9.  And  all  the  people  shall  know, 

Even  Ephraim  and  the  inhabitants  of  Samaria, 
That  say  in  pride 

And  in  stoutness  of  heart, 

10.  "  The  bricks  are  fallen, 

But  we  will  build  with  hewn  stone  : 
The  sycamores  are  cut  down. 

But  we  will  change  them  into  cedars." 

11.  1  Therefore  the  Lord  shall  set  up  on  high  against  him 

the  adversaries  of  Rezin, 
And  shall  stir  up  his  enemies  ; 

12.  The  Syrians  before,  and  the  PhiHstines  behind ; 

And  they  shall  devour  Israel  with  open  mouth. 

1  Gr.  God  shall  dash  down  those  that  rise  up  against  mount  Zion,  and  shall  scatter  his 

enemies. 

the  whole  people,  but  the  northern  kingdom,  as  the  following 
verse  with  its  express  reference  to  Ephraim  and  the  capital  city 
Samaria  seems  to  show. 

9.  They  shall  know  it,  by  experience;  the  blow  will  be  such  as 
they  shall  feel.  Grammar  and  metre  ahke  suggest  that  a  word 
has  dropped  out ;   perhaps  : 

(For  they  boast)  in  pride 

And  in  stoutness  of  heart,  saying. 

10.  The  people  here  practically  acknowledge  that  their  situa- 
tion is  not  all  that  might  be  desired.  But  they  deal  with  it  light- 
heartedly  (cf.  Hos.  6:2);  ignorant  of  their  real  decrepitude  (Hos. 
7:9  f.),  they  face  the  future  with  boundless  self-confidence  and 
ambition.  A  palatial  splendor  will  replace  the  simpler  things 
that  have  been  destroyed. 

11.  12.  Invasion  will  be  the  penalty  of  their  ambitious  and  im- 
penitent life.  Instead  of  the  adversaries  of  Rezin,  parallelism 
suggests  that  we  should  simply  read  his  adversary,  regarding  Rezin 
as  a  gloss.  It  is  Syria  (vs.  12),  and  therefore  Rezin  himself,  its 
king  (7  :  i),  that  is  to  be  raised  up.  This  was  clearly  written  before 
Syria  and  Israel  joined  forces  (7  :  i  ff.),  and  therefore  before  735 
B.C.  An  attack  upon  Israel  or  Judah  by  the  Philistines  was  al- 
ways a  possibility  (cf .  for  a  somewhat  later  date,  2  Chron.  28 : 
18;   and  earlier,  Amos  i  :  6-8). 

89 


9:13 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


For  all  this  his  anger  is  not  turned  away, 
But  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still. 

13.  Yet  the  people  hath  not  returned  unto  him  that  smote 

them, 
Neither  have  they  sought  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

14.  Therefore  the  Lord  will  cut  off  from  Israel  head  and 

tail, 
Palm-branch  and  rush,  in  one  day. 

15.  The  ^  ancient  and  the  honourable  man,  he  is  the  head  ; 

And  the  prophet  that  teacheth  lies,  he  is  the  tail. 

16.  For  they  that  lead  this  people  cause  them  to  err ; 

And  they  that  are  led  of  them  are  destroyed. 

17.  Therefore  the  Lord  shall  not  rejoice  over  their  young 

men, 

1  m.  dder. 

Here  for  the  first  time  occurs  the  refrain  which  ends  each 
strophe : 

For  all  this  his  anger  is  not  turned  away, 
But  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still. 

It  is  a  most  solemn  and  impressive  picture.  Isaiah  sees  in  imagi- 
nation the  first  blow  already  fallen ;  but  terrible  as  it  is  —  an 
invasion  before  and  behind  —  the  divine  Hand  is  still  outstretched 
to  smite  again. 

Israel  will  suffer  some  very  Grievous  Disaster  (9 :  13-17) 

13,  14.  The  object  of  the  first  blow  was  not  merely  punitive; 
it  was  to  lead  the  people  to  repentance.  But  it  failed.  So  another 
blow  must  fall,  though  what  form  it  will  take  is  not  clear ;  in  any 
case,  leader  and  led  will  be  destroyed  —  the  aspiring  palm-branch 
and  the  lowly  rush,  a  figure  for  high  and  low.  In  one  day  —  per- 
haps battle-day  (cf.  vs.  4). 

15,  16.  Vs.  IS  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  gloss,  intended  to 
explain  the  figures  of  vs.  14;  and  vs.  16  seems  to  be  an  echo  of 
3 :  12. 

17.  The  moral  situation  in  Israel  must  be  desperate  indeed, 
when  the  divine  pity  is  refused  even  to  the  orphans  and  the  wid- 

90 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISMAH  9:19 


Neither  shall  he  have  compassion  on  their  fatherless 
and  widows : 
For  every  one  is  profane  and  an  evil-doer, 

And  every  mouth  speaketh  folly. 
For  all  this  his  anger  is  not  turned  away, 

But  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still. 

18.  For  wickedness  burneth  as  the  fire  ; 

It  devoureth  the  briers  and  thorns  ; 
Yea,  it  kindleth  in  the  thickets  of  the  forest, 
And  they  roll  upward  in  thick  clouds  of  smoke. 

19.  Through  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  the  land 

burnt  up: 
The  people  also  are  as  the  fuel  of  fire. 
No  man  spareth  his  brother  ; 


ows,  who  can  otherwise  count  upon  it  so  surely  (i :  17).  The 
reason  is  that  every  one  sets  religion  and  morality  at  defiance, 
and  every  mouth  talks  blasphemous  folly  (cf.  Ps.  14:  i).  Instead 
of  "  the  Lord  will  not  rejoice  over,"  the  change  of  a  letter  will  give 
us  "  the  Lord  will  not  pass  over,'"  i.e.,  spare,  which  suits  the  paral- 
lelism much  better.  The  Hand  is  still  outstretched  to  deal  a 
further  blow. 

Israel  will  he  torn  hy  Anarchy  and  Civil  War  (9  :  18-21) 

18.  The  wickedness  of  Israel  is  graphically  compared  to  a  fire 
which  starts  among  the  thorns  and  thistles  of  the  field  and  then 
spreads  to  the  forest,  rolling  up  in  columns  of  smoke.  This  figure 
finely  suggests  the  havoc  and  lurid  horrors  wrought  by  anarchy 
and  civil  war,  which  vss.  19,  20  show  the  prophet  has  in  mind,  — 
if  not  as  an  expression  of  the  "  wickedness,"  at  any  rate  as  the 
immediate  consequence  of  it. 

19,  20.  The  meaning  of  the  word  rendered  in  RV  burnt  up, 
and  in  AV  darkened,  is  quite  uncertain.  Some  suggest  is  con- 
fused, reels,  etc.  Instead  of  are  as  the  fuel  of  fire,  Hackmann, 
by  a  very  simple  and  plausible  emendation,  reads  are  as  eaters  of 
men,  i.e.  like  cannibals,  which  would  be  a  vivid,  and  not  over- 
drawn (cf.  Hos.  7:7),  statement  of  the  effects  of  civil  war.  The 
insatiable  ferocity  of  the  strife  is  suggested  with  equal  vigor  by 

91 


9120  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


20.  And  one  shall  snatch  on  the  right  hand,  and  be  hungry ;  j 
And  he  shall  eat  on  the  left  hand,  and  they  shall  not  ' 

be  satisfied : 
They  shall  eat  every  man  the  flesh  of  his  ^  own  arm  ; 

21.  Manasseh,  Ephraim  ;  and  Ephraim,  Manasseh  : 

And  they  together  shall  be  against  Judah. 
For  all  this  his  anger  is  not  turned  away. 
But  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still. 

10.  Woe  unto  them  that  decree  unrighteous  decrees, 
And  to  the  writers  that  write  perverseness  : 
2.  To  turn  aside  the  needy  from  judgement, 

And  to  take  away  the  right  of  the  poor  of  my  people, 
That  widows  may  be  their  spoil. 

And  that  they  may  make  the  fatherless  their  prey  ! 

1  Tar.  neighbor. 

the  similar  figures  of  vs.  20.  Instead  of  "  the  flesh  of  his  own 
arm,"  we  should  no  doubt  read,  by  the  omission  of  a  single  letter, 
"  the  flesh  of  his  neighbor."  Much  can  be  said  for  the  suggestion 
that  the  last  clause  of  vs.  19  should  immediately  precede  the  last 
clause  of  vs.  20,  thus : 

No  man  shall  spare  his  brother, 
Each  shall  eat  the  flesh  of  his  neighbor. 

21.  Intertribal  feuds  will  break  out,  only  in  turn  to  be  swallowed 
up  by  the  common  hatred  of  Judah.  Isaiah's  picture  of  anarchy 
finds  its  historical  counterpart  in  the  confusions  reflected  in 
2  Kings  15  and  passim  in  Hosea.  Yet,  fearful  as  this  anarchy  is, 
the  divine  Hand  is  stretched  out  still  to  deal  another  blow. 

Israel  will  be  swept  by  a  Storm  from  afar  (10  :  1-4) 

10:1,2.  The  detail  in  vss.  i,  2  —  so  like  Isaiah's  complaints 
elsewhere  of  Judah  (cf.  1:17,  23)  and  so  unlike  the  vaguer  lan- 
guage of  the  preceding  strophes  —  coupled  with  the  introductory 
Woe,  which  irresistibly  recalls  the  group  of  Woes  in  Chap.  5  : 8  ff., 
pronounced  upon  Judah,  have  led  some  scholars  to  the  conclusion 
that  this  section  deals  with  Judah,  not  with  Israel.     This  conclu- 

92 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  10:4 


And  what  will  ye  do  in  the  day  of  visitation, 

And  in  the  desolation  which  shall  come  from  far? 
To  whom  will  ye  flee  for  help  ! 

And  where  will  ye  leave  your  glory  ? 
They  shall  only  bow  down  under  the  prisoners, 

And  shall  fall  under  the  slain. 
For  all  this  his  anger  is  not  turned  away. 

But  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still. 


sion,  though  by  no  means  impossible,  is  unnecessary.  The  pages 
of  Amos  and  Hosea  show  us  that  the  thing  here  denounced  was  as 
common  in  Israel  as  in  Judah.  The  Hebrew  suggests  the  zeal 
with  which  the  writing  was  done.  The  elaborate  legal  formalities 
really  violated  the  plain  man's  sense  of  justice,  and  indeed  had 
the  effect  —  which,  according  to  vs.  2,  was  intentional  —  of 
injustice  (cf.  Amos  5  :  12). 

3.  With  starthng  abruptness  the  prophet  puts  his  question  to 
the  champions  of  injustice  :  But  what  will  ye  do,  etc.  ?  For  them 
there  is  coming  "  a  day  of  revision,  when  they  must  answer  to  the 
Supreme  Judge"  (Skinner).  The  figure  changes;  the  visitation 
will  take  the  form  of  a  storm  (rather  than  desolation)  which  shall 
come  from  afar.  This  dark  allusion,  worked  out  with  terrible 
frankness  in  the  concluding  strophe  (5  :  26-30),  is  of  course  to  the 
Assyrians,  who  in  5  :  26  are  described  as  "  a  nation  from  afar." 

To  whom  will  ye  flee?  The  Hebrew  here  is  subtle,  combining 
the  ideas  To  whom  will  ye  flee  ?  and  on  whom  can  ye  lean  ?  Glory  = 
wealth,  resources. 

4.  This  verse,  in  its  present  form,  defies  translation.  It  could 
not  without  violence  be  rendered  :  {They  can  do  nothing)  hut  crouch 
among  the  prisoners,  and  fall  beneath  the  slain,  i.e.  their  doom  would 
be  either  imprisonment  or  death  upon  the  battlefield.  A  very 
ingenious  rearrangement  of  the  consonantal  text,  suggested  by 
Lagarde,  yields  the  meaning :  Beltis  has  sunk  down,  Osiris  is 
broken,  and  under  the  slain  they  fall.  Osiris  is  an  Egyptian  Deity, 
and  Beltis,  the  Lady,  would  in  this  connection  be  Isis.  It  is 
certain  from  Hosea  (cf.  7:11;  12:1)  that  a  party  in  Israel  aimed 
at  an  Egyptian  alliance ;  and  Isaiah  would  in  that  case  be  here 
foretelling  the  futility  of  Egyptian  help,  the  impotence  of  Egyp- 
tian gods  (cf .  46  :  i).  This  very  daring  textual  suggestion  cannot  be 
regarded  as  improbable,  considering,  on  the  one  hand,  Israel's 
leanings  to  Egypt,  and,  on  the  other,  the  tendency  of  later  Jewish 
editors   to    obliterate    the   unworthier   aspects    of   Israel's   early 

93 


10 :  5  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Doom  op  the  Assyrian  (io  :  5-34) 
The  Two  Plans  —  Assyrians  and  Jehovah's  (10:  5-15) 

5.  Ho  Assyrian,  the  rod  of  mine  anger, 

The  staff  in  whose  hand  is  mine  indignation  ! 

6.  I  will  send  him  against  a  profane  nation. 

And  against  the  people  of  my  wrath  will  I  give  him 
a  charge, 

religion ;  or  it  may  be  that  to  them  the  names  were  really  obscure. 
The  suggestion  is,  at  any  rate,  superior  to  our  present  text. 

The  divine  Hand  is  stretched  out  still,  this  time  to  deal  the  last 
and  deadliest  blow  of  all  —  for  it  is  now  generally  admitted  that 
the  magnificent  description  of  the  onward  march  of  the  Assyrian 
army  in  5  :  26-30  is  the  real  and  original  climax  of  this  noble  poem. 
After  it  has  come,  the  Hand  needs  to  be  stretched  out  no  more. 
Roaring  hke  lions,  the  Assyrians  will  carry  off  their  helpless  prey, 
and  nothing  will  be  left  but  a  desolation. 

This  poem  (9  :  8-10 :  4)  shows  that  Isaiah  was  no  less  great  as  a 
poet  than  as  a  prophet.  There  is  a  singularly  weird  impressiveness 
about  the  outstretched  Hand,  dealing  in  each  successive  strophe 
a  new  and  terrible  blow,  bringing  upon  unhappy  Israel  invasion, 
war,  anarchy,  despair,  and  only  withdrawn  when  the  tireless  and 
invincible  Assyrians  come  to  tear  Israel  in  pieces. 

10  :  5-34.  A  very  profound  conception  of  history  marks  this  group 
of  oracles.  History  is  but  the  gradual  outworking  of  Jehovah's 
purpose,  and  to  this  purpose  the  Assyrians  are  all  unconsciously 
made  to  contribute.  The  passage  implies  the  fall  of  Samaria 
(vss.  9,  II  :  721  B.C.)  and  Carchemish  (vs.  9:  717  B.C.)  and  must 
therefore  be  later  than  717  B.C.;  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  be 
earlier  than  701  b.c,  when  Sennacherib  was  compelled  to  abandon 
his  projected  assault  upon  Jerusalem.  Sometime  between  those 
two  dates  it  falls  —  probably  nearer,  but  not  immediately  before 
701  B.C.,  as  the  Assyrian  advance  did  not  come  (as  pictured  in 
vss.  28-32)  from  the  north. 

10:  5-15.  Jehovah  has  his  plan  and  the  Assyrians  have  theirs; 
but  he,  the  true  Lord  of  history,  uses  them  as  his  instruments  to 
work  out  his  own  plan,  while  all  the  time  they  imagine  that  they 
are  working  out  theirs. 

5,  6.  The  verse  should  run —  Woe,  Assyrian!  the  rod  of  mine 
anger,  and  the  staff  of  mine  indignation.  The  Assyrians  are  the  rod 
which  Jehovah  uses  to  smite  the  godless  nations  —  Judah  in  par- 

94 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  io:i2 


To  take  the  spoil,  and  to  take  the  prey, 

And  to  tread  them  down  hke  the  mire  of  the  streets 

7.  Howbeit  he  meaneth  not  so, 

Neither  doth  his  heart  think  so  ; 
,     But  it  is  in  his  heart  to  destroy. 
And  to  cut  off  nations  not  a  few. 

8.  For  he  saith, 

''Are  not  my  princes  all  of  them  kings? 

9.  Is  not  Calno  as  Carchemish  ? 
Is  not  Hamath  as  Arpad  ? 

Is  not  Samaria  as  Damascus  ? 

10.  As  my  hand  hath  ^  found  the  kingdoms  of  the  idols, 

Whose  graven  images  did  excel  them  of  Jerusalem 
and  of  Samaria ; 

11.  Shall  I  not,  as  I  have  done  unto  Samaria  and  her  idols. 

So  do  to  Jerusalem  and  her  idols  ?" 

12.  Wherefore  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  when  the  Lord 

1  m.  reached. 

ticular  is  meant  —  with  which  he  is  angry;  and  they  execute  their 
commission  with  terrible  thoroughness. 

7.  He  —  the  Assyrian  —  does  not  realize  that  he  is  but  a  tool 
in  Jehovah's  hands  ;  his  purpose  is  simply  destruction  on  a  gigantic 
scale.  His  arrogance  and  passion  for  destruction  are  illustrated 
in  the  following  speech  —  vss.  8-1 1. 

8-1 1.  How  could  Jerusalem  withstand  a  monarch  who  had 
kings  for  officials  and  who  had  already  subdued  cities  much 
stronger  than  herself  —  Calno  in  738  B.C.,  Carchemish  (a  famous 
city  on  the  Euphrates)  in  717,  Hamath  on  the  Orontes  in  720, 
Arpad  (a  little  north  of  Aleppo)  in  740,  Samaria  (the  capital  of 
northern  Israel)  in  721,  and  Damascus  in  732?  Jerusalem  and 
her  idols  —  a  natural  phrase  on  Assyrian  lips  —  can  hope  to  fare 
no  better  than  Samaria  and  her  good-for-nothing  gods:  the  defeat 
of  a  people  was  held  to  prove  the  impotence  of  its  god.  In  vs.  10, 
the  conquered  kingdoms  generally  are  described  as  the  kingdoms 
of  the  good-for-nothing  gods. 

12.  This  vs.  interrupts  the  proud  speech  of  the  Assyrian  king 
with  a  threat  of  divine  punishment.     (Read  "  He  will  punish.") 

95 


io:i3  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


hath  performed  his  whole  work  upon  mount  Zion  and  on  I 
Jerusalem,  I  will  punish  the  fruit  of  the  stout  heart  of 
the  king  of  Assyria,  and  the  glory  of  his  high  looks. 

13.  For  he  hath  said, 

''By  the  strength  of  my  hand  I  have  done  it, 
And  by  my  wisdom  ;  for  I  am  prudent : 

And  I  have  removed  the  bounds  of  the  peoples, 
And  have  robbed  their  treasuries, 

And  ^  I  have  brought  down  as  a  valiant  man 
Them  that  sit  on  thrones : 

14.  And  my  hand  hath  found  as  a  nest 

The  riches  of  the  peoples  ; 
And  as  one  gathereth  eggs  that  are  forsaken, 

Have  I  gathered  all  the  earth  ; 
And  there  was  none  that  moved  the  wing. 

Or  that  opened  the  mouth,  or  chirped." 

15.  Shall  the  axe  boast  itself  against  him  that  heweth 

therewith  ? 
Shall  the  saw  magnify  itself  against  him  that  shaketh 
it? 

'  Gr.  I  •will  shake  cities  with  their  inhabitants. 


13.  The  Assyrian  attributes  his  success  to  his  own  might  and 
the  astuteness  of  his  own  policy  in  removing  national  boundaries 
(for  example,  by  transferring  the  inhabitants  of  one  country  to 
another) ;  he  does  not  know  that  he  is  but  a  tool  in  Jehovah's 
hand  (vss.  5-7).  As  a  valiant  man  —  or  perhaps  like  a  hull  (a 
figure  of  frequent  occurrence  in  Assyrian  art)  —  he  brings  down 
to  the  dust  the  peoples  of  the  world,  or  it  may  be  their  kings. 

14.  The  irresistible  might  claimed  by  the  Assyrian  in  vs.  13  is 
graphically  described  in  vs.  14,  which  compares  his  depredations 
to  the  harrying  of  birds'  nests ;  as  the  eggs  are  carried  ruthlessly 
away,  and  the  helpless  birds  dare  not  even  chirp,  so  the  nations  are 
impotent  when  their  treasures  are  swept  away  by  the  Assyrians. 

15.  Shall  the  axe  boast,  etc.?  This  is  the  prophet's  answer  to 
Assyria's  proud  boast.    Assyria  was  but  an  axe,  a  saw,  a  rod,  wielded 

96 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  10:20 


As  if  a  rod  should  shake  them  that  lift  it  up, 
Or  as  if  a  staff  should  lift  up  him  that  is  not  wood. 

The  Fate  of  Assyria  and  Judah  (10 :  16-23) 

16.  Therefore  shall  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts, 

Send  among  his  fat  ones  leanness  ; 
And  under  his  glory  there  shall  be  kindled 
A  burning  like  the  burning  of  fire. 

17.  And  the  Hght  of  Israel  shall  be  for  a  fire, 

And  his  Holy  One  for  a  flame  ; 
And  it  shall  burn  and  devour  his  thorns 
And  his  briers  in  one  day. 

18.  And  he  shall  consume  the  glory  of  his  forest, 

And  of  his  fruitful  field,  both  soul  and  body  : 

And  it  shall  be  ^  as  when  a  standard  bearer  fainteth. 

19.  And  the  remnant  of  the  trees  of  his  forest  shall  be  few. 

That  a  child  may  write  them. 

20.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the 

1  m.  a5  when  a  sick  man  pineth  away. 

by  the  mighty  arm  of  Jehovah,  with  no  more  right  to  brag  over 
him  than  those  instruments  have  over  the  man  who  wields  them. 
Not  wood,  i.e.,  man  —  greater  than,  and  master  of,  the  wood. 

10:  16-23.  After  the  boastful  speech  of  the  Assyrian  (cf.  esp. 
vss.  13,  14)  the  announcement  of  his  downfall  comes  with  singular 
effect. 

16-19.  The  destruction  is  described  first  as  leanness,  or  wasting 
away,  and  then  as  a  conflagration,  though  only  the  latter  figure  is 
elaborated;  the  fire  is  kindled  by  the  holy  Jehovah,* the  Light  of 
Israel  —  or  rather  he  is  the  flame  that  will  speedily  consume  them. 
The  picture  is  that  of  a  forest  fire  (cf.  9  :  18),  in  which  but  few  trees 
survive;  in  vs.  18  the  destruction  is  represented  as  absolute  — 
body  and  soul.  And  it  shall  be  as  when  a  sick  man  pineth  away 
(RV  m.)  —  a  reversion  to  the  figure  of  vs.  16.  The  change  and 
confusion  of  metaphors  is  very  unlike  Isaiah's,  and  may  point  to 
interference  by  a  later  hand. 

20-23.  For  Israel  (i.e.  Judah)  no  less  than  for  Assyria,  destruc- 

H  97 


io:2i  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


remnant  of  Israel,  and  they  that  are  escaped  out  of 
the  house  of  Jacob,  shall  no  more  again  stay  upon 
him  that  smote  them ;  but  shall  stay  upon  the  Lord,  i 
21.  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  in  truth.  A  remnant  shall  ' 
return,  even  the  remnant  of  Jacob,  unto  the  mighty 
Rom.  9: 27  22.  God.  For  though  thy  people  Israel  be  as  the  sand 
of  the  sea,  only  a  remnant  of  them  shall  return :  a 
consumption  is  determined,   overflowing  with  right- 

23.  eousness.  For  a  consummation,  and  that  determined, 
shall  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts,  make  in  the  midst 
of  all  the  earth. 

The  Consolation  of  Zion:  Assyria  will  assuredly  Fall 
(10 :  24-34) 

24.  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
"O  my  people  that  dwellest  in  Zion,  be  not  afraid  of 
the  Assyrian  :  though  he  smite  thee  with  the  rod,  and 
Hft  up  his  staff  against  thee,  after  the  manner  of  Egypt. 

25.  For  yet  a  Httle  while,  and  the  indignation  shall  be 
accompHshed,  and  mine  anger,  in  their   destruction. 

26.  And  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  stir  up  against  him  a 

Hon  is  strictly  decreed,  bringing  in  justice  like  a  flood  (vs.^  22: 
Cheyne) ;  but  a  remnant  will  survive,  and,  taught  by  the  divine 
judgment  upon  Assyria,  will  lean  no  more  (vs.  20),  as  Ahaz  had 
done  (2  Kings  16 :  7  £f.)  upon  that  power  which  later,  in  the  reign 
of  Hezekiah,  smote  Judah,  but  will  turn  to  their  own  mighty  God 
{el  gibbor  —  the  name  given  in  9:6  to  the  Messianic  king)  and 
lean  upon  him  in  truth,  i.e.  sincerity.  A  remnant  shall  return : 
this  is  intended  to  recall  the  name  of  Isaiah's  son  —  Shear-jashub 
(7:3),  who  was  a  sort  of  incarnate  prophecy. 

24-27.  In  view  of  the  hope  just  expressed  (vss.  20-23)  the  people 
of  Jerusalem,  in  which  is  the  sacred  temple  hill  of  Zion,  are  urged 
not  to  be  afraid  of  the  Assyrians,  though  they  smite  as  the  Egyp- 
tians did  in  the  ancient  days  of  the  oppression;  for  Jehovah  in 
his  anger  is  determined  speedily  to  destroy  them  as  completely 
as  the  Midianites  (cf.  9  :  4)  were  destroyed  by  Gideon  (cf .  Jud.  7:25) 

98 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  10:31 


scourge,  as  in  the  slaughter  of  Midian  at  the  rock  of 
Oreb  :  and  his  rod  shall  be  over  the  sea,  and  he  shall 
Uft  it  up  after  the  manner  of  Egypt. 

27.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that 
His  burden  shall  depart  from  off  thy  shoulders, 

And  his  yoke  from  off  thy  neck, 
And  the  yoke  shall  be  destroyed 
Because  of  the  anointing. 

28.  He  is  come  to  Aiath, 

He  is  passed  through  Migron  ; 

At  Michmash  he  layeth  up  his  baggage  : 

29.  They  are  gone  over  the  pass  ; 

1  They  have  taken  up  their  lodging  at  Geba : 
Ramah  trembleth ; 
Gibeah  of  Saul  is  fled. 

30.  Cry  aloud  with  thy  voice,  O  daughter  of  Gullim! 

Hearken,  O  Laishah ! 
2  0  thou  poor  Anathoth  ! 

31.  Madmenah  is  a  fugitive  : 

The  inhabitants  of  Gebim  gather  themselves  to  flee. 

1  m.  Geba  is  our  lodging  (they  cry).  2  m.  Answer  her,  0  Anathoth. 

or  the  Egyptians  at  the  Red  Sea.  Jehovah  is  about  to  stir  up 
against  him  —  the  Assyrian  —  a  scourge,  in  other  words,  brandish 
the  whip  or  the  rod  of  destruction;  and  the  result  will  be  that  the 
burden  will  fall  from  the  shoulder  and  the  yoke  from  the  neck  of 
Judah  (cf.  9  :  4). 

2  7b-32.  This  passage  describes  an  imaginary  march  of  the 
Assyrian  army  upon  Jerusalem  from  the  north.  Its  opening 
words  —  the  last  clause  of  vs.  27,  which  can  hardly  be  correct  as 
it  stands  (because  of  the  anointing)  —  may  originally  have  run : 
A  destroyer  goeth  up  from  the  north  (Robertson  Smith)  or  from 
Rimmon  (cf.  Jud.  20:  45)  east  of  Bethel  (so  Duhm).  Aiath  is  Ai, 
nine  miles  from  Jerusalem,  so  that  the  enemy  is  very  near.  The 
places  named  he  passes  on  his  way,  and  they  are  filled  with  con- 

99 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


32.  This  very  day  shall  he  halt  at  Nob  : 

He  shaketh  his  hand  at  the  mount  of  the  ^  daughter  of 
Zion, 
The  hill  of  Jerusalem. 

33.  Behold,  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts, 

Shall  lop  the  boughs  with  terror  : 
And  the  high  ones  of  stature  shall  be  hewn  down, 
And  the  lofty  shall  be  brought  low. 

34.  And  he  shall  cut  down  the  thickets  of  the  forest  with 

iron, 
And  Lebanon  shall  fall  by  a  mighty  one. 

1  Heb.  by  a  slip,  house. 

sternation.  The  passage  is  full  of  word-play  (cf.  Mic.  i  :  10-15) 
impossible  to  reproduce;  thus,  Yell,  Gallim :  listen,  Laishah: 
answer,  Anathoth.  Anathoth,  about  three  miles  from  Jerusalem, 
was  Jeremiah's  birthplace.  A  halt  is  called  at  Noh  immediately 
to  the  north  of  Jerusalem,  whose  doom  now  seems  to  be  sealed, 
as  the  Assyrian  fist  is  shaken  in  her  face. 

33,  34.  But  —  "a  quiet  pause  of  breathless  anxiety  "  (OreUi), 
and  —  behold !  The  climax  is  as  surprising  as  it  is  wonderful. 
The  foe,  mighty  and  haughty  though  they  be,  so  far  from  smiting 
Jerusalem,  are  themselves  mysteriously  smitten  by  Jerusalem's 
mightier  God.  The  Assyrian  army  is  compared  to  a  great  forest, 
like  Lebanon,  and  crash  go  the  giant  cedars,  felled  by  the  irresist- 
ible arm  of  Jehovah. 

The  chapter  forms  an  impressive  picture  of  the  clash  between 
Assyria  and  Judah,  representatives  to  Isaiah,  respectively,  of  the 
secular  and  the  divine  idea.  Assyria  is  Jehovah's  tool  for  the 
chastisement  of  Judah,  but  Assyria's  arrogance  must  also  be 
chastised ;  and  she  receives  her  most  signal  chastisement  in  the 
hour  of  her  loftiest  arrogance  and  before  the  walls  of  the  very  city 
she  was  bent  on  humiliating.  With  such  a  prospect,  the  people  of 
Jerusalem  might  well /ear  not  (vs.  24)  :  a  great  purpose  of  Jehovah 
was  involved  in  her  preservation  (cf.  14:  24-27). 

Chaps.  II  and  12.  In  the  closing  verses  of  Chap.  10  the  fall  of 
Israel's  great  antagonist  was  portrayed,  and  the  ground  is  now 
clear  for  the  establishment  of  Messiah's  kingdom.  To  that  this 
chapter  is  devoted  —  vss.   1-9  describing  the  King  himself,  his 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Bliss  of   Israel  in  the   Latter  Days   (Chaps. 
II,  12) 

The  Messianic  King  and  Kingdom  (11  : 1-9) 

11.  And  there  shall  come  forth  a  shoot  out  of  the  stock  of 
Jesse, 
And  a  branch  out  of  his  roots  shall  bear  fruit: 

2.  And  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  rest  upon  him. 

The  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding, 
The  spirit  of  counsel  and  might. 
The  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord  ; 

3.  And  his  ^  delight  shall  be  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  : 
And  he  shall  not  judge  after  the  sight  of  his  eyes. 

Neither  ^  reprove  after  the  hearing  of  his  ears : 


'  Heb.  scent.        =  m.  SV  decide. 


character,  and  the  effects  of  his  rule,  vss.  10-16  the  triumphant 
return  to  Palestine  of  Hebrew  exiles  from  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth. 

1.  The  Messianic  king  will  be  of  the  same  family  as  David  — 
so  to  speak,  a  second  David.  That  family  is  now  like  the  stock 
or  stump  of  a  tree  —  a  phrase  which  suggests,  perhaps,  that  the 
days  of  the  monarchy  are  over. 

2.  The  king  will  be  specially  equipped  for  his  high  office  by 
the  spirit  of  Jehovah,  which  will  not  simply,  as  in  the  olden  times 
(Jud.  14:  6),  inspire  him  intermittently,  but  rest  upon  him  per- 
manently ;  and  its  quahty  will  be  seen  in  the  three  different  spheres 
of  intellect,  of  practical  life,  and  of  religion.  It  will  equip  hira 
with  a  general  wisdom  and  insight  into  the  meaning  and  conditions 
of  his  office,  with  a  penetration  which  will  enable  him  to  discover 
ways  and  means  to  secure  his  ends,  and  a  strength  to  carry  them 
out,  and  finally  with  a  real  appreciation  of  and  reverent  regard  for 
the  will  of  Jehovah  whose  servant  he  is. 

3.  The  first  clause  of  vs.  3  is  somewhat  obscure,  but  it  at  least 
implies  that  the  king's  work  is  done  in  the  spirit  and  atmosphere 
of  religion.  One  great  function  of  the  ancient  ruler  was  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice ;  here  the  Messianic  king,  endowed  as  he  is 
by  the  spirit,  will  be  a  master,  with  an  unerring  judgment  that 
no  specious  appearances  or  plausible  statements  can  deflect. 

.  loi 


II :  4  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


4.  But  with  righteousness  shall  he  judge  the  poor, 

And  ^  reprove  with  equity  for  the  meek  of  the  earth  : 
And  he  shall  smite  the  earth  with  the  rod  of  his  mouth, 
2Thes.  2:8  And  with  the  breath  of  his  lips  shall  he  slay  the 

wicked. 

5.  And  righteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins, 
Eph.  6 :  14  And  faithfulness  the  girdle  of  his  reins. 

6.  And  the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb, 

And  the  leopard  shall  He  down  with  the  kid  ; 
And  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  and  the  fatHng  ^to- 
gether ; 
And  a  Httle  child  shall  lead  them. 

7.  And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed ; 

Their  young  ones  shall  He  down  together  : 
And  the  Hon  shall  eat  straw  Hke  the  ox. 

8.  And  the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp, 

I  SV  decide.        =  Gr.  adds  sliall  graze. 

4.  For  reprove,  read  decide.  As  the  champion  of  justice,  his 
business  will  be,  on  the  one  hand,  to  help  the  downtrodden  to  their 
rights,  and,  on  the  other,  to  put  an  end  to  violence.  His  mere  word 
will  bring  death  to  godless  and  violent  men,  as  Peter's  word 
brought  death  to  the  lying  Ananias  and  Sapphira  (Acts  5  :  5,  10). 
For  "■  smite  the  earth  "  read  "  smite  the  violent  man." 

5.  The  girdle  graphically  suggests  the  king's  activity ;  he  will  be 
ready  to  work  and  fight,  and  the  cause  to  which  he  gives  himself  is 
righteousness  and  faithfulness  —  the  strenuous  and  conscientious 
pursuit  of  justice.  On  this  his  throne  was  founded  and  by  this  its 
stabihty  was  guaranteed  (cf.  9:7). 

6-8.  In  its  present  setting,  this  beautiful  picture  of  peace  in  the 
animal  world  is  to  be  regarded  not  only  as  an  accompaniment  of, 
but  perhaps,  in  a  measure,  as  the  result  of  the  transformation  of 
human  character  effected  by  the  righteous  rule  of  the  Messiah. 
Among  the  animals,  special  enemies  will  become  special  friends, 
the  wild  and  the  tame  will  be  found  grazing  peacefully  together. 

In  6b,  perhaps  we  should  read  "  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  shall 
feed  together,"  and  in  7a,  "  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  be  friends." 

102 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  the  weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand 
On  the  basilisk's  den. 
9.  They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy- 
On  all  my  holy  mountain  : 

For  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord, 
As  the  waters  cover  the  sea. 

The  Triumphant  Return  (11  :  10-16) 

10.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 

That  the  root  of  Jesse  which  standeth  for  an  ensign  Rom.  15 :  12 
of  the  peoples,  Rev.  22: 16 

Unto  him  shall  the  nations  seek ; 

And  his  resting  place  shall  be  glorious. 
II.' And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day. 

That  the  Lord  shall  ^  set  his  hand  again  the  second 
time, 

'  Gr.  show. 

8.  The  presence  of  the  little  child  (vs.  6)  among  the  wild  animals 
shows  how  tame  they  have  become  —  a  point  enhanced  in  vs.  8, 
where  a  baby  can  fearlessly  play  with  a  venomous  viper,  sportively 
reaching  out  with  his  finger  for  its  eye  (though  perhaps  we  should 
read  den). 

9.  In  all  Palestine,  the  mountain  land,  blessed  as  it  now  is  with  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  Jehovah  (for  earth  read  land),  men  will  do 
no  harmful  or  destructive  work ;  peace  and  virtue  will  reign.  The 
vs.  is  either  the  original  of  or  a  reminiscence  of  65  :  25  and  Hab. 
2:  14. 

11:  10-16.  In  that  glorious  day  of  the  poet's  dream,  the  He- 
brews that  have  been  scattered  about  the  earth  will  return  to  the 
home-land,  over  which  now  reigns  the  Messianic  king. 

10.  This  vs.  hangs  midway  between  the  last  section  and  this, 
pointing  back  to  the  Messiah  (a  branch,  rather  than  a  root  of  Jesse), 
and  forward  to  the  larger  world  beyond  Messiah's  land.  He  is 
as  an  ensign,  a  standard,  to  which  the  nations  resort;  to  him 
they  go,  as  in  2  :  2-4,  for  instruction ;  and  Jerusalem,  his  resting 
place  or  residence,  shall  be  glorious  (cf.  4 :  2-6). 

11.  12.  As  once  before  the  Lord  had  brought  Israel  out  of  exile 

103 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


To  recover  the  remnant  of  his  people 

Which  shall  remain,  from  Assyria  and  from  Egypt, 
And  from  Pathros,  and  from  Cush,  and  from  Elam, 
and  from  Shinar,  and  from  Hamath,  and  from 
the  islands  of  the  sea. 

12.  And  he  shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations, 

And  shall  assemble  the  outcasts  of  Israel, 
And  gather  together  the  dispersed  of  Judah 
From  the  four  corners  of  the  earth. 

13.  The  envy  also  of  Ephraim  shall  depart. 

And  they  that  vex  Judah  shall  be  cut  off : 
Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah, 
And  Judah  shall  not  vex  Ephraim. 

14.  And  they  shall  fly  down  upon  the  shoulder  of  the 

PhiHstines  on  the  west ; 
Together  shall  they  spoil  the  children  of  the  east : 
They  shall    put    forth  their  hand  upon  Edom  and 
Moab; 
And  the  children  of  Ammon  shall  obey  them. 

in  Babylon,  so  he  would  again  lift  up  his  hand  to  redeem  those  of 
his  people  who  were  dispersed  throughout  the  world,  notably  in 
Assyria  (possibly  here  =  Syria)  and  Egypt.  The  remaining  names 
represent  parts  of  these  two  empires  (a)  Pathros  (Southern  Egypt), 
Cush  (Ethiopia);  and  (b),  Elam  (Susiana),  Shinar  (Babylonia), 
Hamath  (on  the  Orontes),  and  the  islands  and  coasts  of  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea.  A  signal  would  be  divinely  given  to  the  nations 
to  bring  back  the  exiles,  both  men  and  women  {dispersed  is  fem.), 
to  their  own  land. 

13.  All  those  who  are  jealous  of  Ephraim  {i.e.  Israel)  and  hostile 
to  Judah  will  be  destroyed,  nor  between  these  two  shall  there  be 
any  such  jealousy  or  hostihty  as  animated  them  in  post-exilic 
times  (cf.  John  4:9);  they  shall  be  at  peace  with  the  world  and 
with  one  another. 

14.  Their  return  shall  be  signaHzed  b}-  a  triumph  over  all  their 
enemies  —  PhiHstines  on  the  west,  Arabs  on  the  east,  etc.  They 
shall  swoop  down  on  the  shoulder  of  the  Philistines,  i.e.  their 
mountains  that  slope  towards  the  sea. 

104 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


15.  And  the  Lord  shall  ^  utterly  destroy  the  tongue  of  the 

Egyptian  sea ; 
And  with  his  ^  scorching  wind  shall  he  shake  his 

hand  over  the  River, 
And  shall  smite  it  into  seven  streams, 
And  cause  men  to  march  over  dry-shod. 

16.  And  there  shall  be  an  high  way  for  the  remnant  of  his 

people, 
Which  shall  remain,  from  Assyria  ; 
Like  as  there  was  for  Israel 

In  the  day  that  he  came  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt. 

The  Song  of  Thanksgiving  (Chap.  12) 

12.       And  in  that  day  thou  shalt  say, 

"I  will  give  thanks  unto  thee,  O  Lord  ; 

1  Gr.  Tar.  dry  up.        2  Gr.  Vg.  Syr.  violent. 

15,  16.  To  facilitate  their  return  (15  f.  precedes  13  f.  in  thought) 
the  wonders  of  the  Exodus  will  be  repeated :  Jehovah  will  destroy 
(or  rather,  with  the  Greek  version,  dry  up)  as  he  then  did  (Ex. 
14:  21;  15:  8)  by  the  might  (or  the  gloitf)  of  his  breath,  i.e.  by  a 
mighty  wind,  the  tongue  of  the  Egyptian  {i.e.  the  Red)  Sea ;  and 
the  great  river  Euphrates  he  will  smite  into  seven  streams  so 
shallow  that  the  people  could  cross  them  dryshod,  i.e.  in  sandals, 
and  a  miraculous  way  would  be  made  for  the  people  across  the 
eastern  desert  (cf.  40  :  3). 

The  great  extent  of  the  dispersion  implied  by  this  passage 
(vs.  11)  hardly  fits  the  circumstances  of  Isaiah's  time,  when  at 
most  the  people  of  the  northern  kingdom  had  been  taken  to 
Assyria  (2  Kings  15  :  29;  17  :  6).  This  picture  of  the  restoration 
comes  no  doubt  from  a  much  later  time,  when  Israel  was,  almost 
literally,  to  be  found  "  in  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  "  (vs.  12). 
How  precious  in  those  days  was  the  memory  of  ancient  deliver- 
ances is  shown  by  vss.  15  f.,  and  the  poHtical  ambitions  that 
marred  the  purity  of  their  religious  hopes  are  seen  in  the  desire 
for  the  subjugation  of  the  sister  peoples.  On  the  whole  the  passage 
does  not  stand  upon  so  high  a  level  as  that  to  which  it  is  appended 
(11:1-9),   with  its  fine  description  of  Messiah's  righteous  and 


12:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


For  though  thou  wast  angry  with  me, 
Thine  anger  is  turned  away, 
And  thou  comfortedst  me. 

2.  Behold,  God  is  my  salvation  ; 

I  will  trust,  and  will  not  be  afraid  : 
For  ^  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  my  strength  and  song ; 
And  he  is  become  my  salvation." 

3.  Therefore  with  joy  shall  ye  draw  water 

Out  of  the  wells  of  salvation. 

4.  And  in  that  day  shall  ye  say, 

"  Give  thanks  unto  the  Lord,  call  upon  his  name, 
Declare  his  doings  among  the  peoples, 
Make  mention  that  his  name  is  exalted. 

'  Heb.  Jah  Jehovah. 

happy  reign,  in  which  even  the  beasts  were  at  peace  with  men  and 
with  one  another. 

Chap.  12.  With  such  an  outlook  as  that  opened  up  by  Chap.  11 
—  the  Messianic  kingdom  and  the  restoration  of  the  exiles  to  the 
home  land  —  well  might  Israel  lift  up  her  song  of  praise.  The 
affinities  of  this  song  with  the  song  of  Moses  (Exod.  15)  are  not 
unnatural,  considering  the  allusion  in  the  preceding  verses  (cf. 
11:  is). 

2.  Read,  Behold  the  God  of  my  salvation.  I  will  fearlessly  trust; 
for  Jah  {i.e.  Jehovah)  is  my  strength,  etc.  Cf.  Ex.  15  :  2.  In  this 
passage,  /  is  not  Isaiah,  but  the  later  Jewish  church. 

3-6.  These  vss.  in  the  second  person  plural  are  perhaps  another 
poem  (cf.  vs.  4  with  vs.  i). 

The  salvation  which  stirred  Israel  to  such  exuberant  joy  and 
gratitude  was  larger  than  the  recent  deliverance;  it  was  Hke  an 
inexhaustible  well,  or  fountain  from  which  she  could  draw  con- 
tinually; and  the  story  of  this  divine  deliverance  deserves  to  be 
told  to  all  the  world. 

This  song  of  thanksgiving  forms  a  very  appropriate  conclusion 
not  only  to  the  last  chapter,  but  to  the  whole  of  the  first  great 
division  of  the  book  of  Isaiah  (Chaps,  i  to  12).  Its  manner, 
however,  is  quite  unhke  Isaiah's,  and  it  was  probably  added  by  a 
later  hand  to  complete  and  conclude  the  group,  Chaps.  1-12.  The 
redemption  and  gratitude  of    Israel  make    an  admirable  foil  to 

106 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  12:6 


5.  Sing  unto  the  Lord  ;  for  he  hath  done  excellent  things  : 

Let  this  be  known  in  all  the  earth. 

6.  Cry  aloud  and  shout,  thou  inhabitant  of  Zion  : 

For  great  is  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  in  the  midst  of 
thee." 


the  picture  of  her  sin  and  ingratitude  with  which  the  section  opens 
(Chap.  i). 


107 


PROPHECIES  CONCERNING  FOREIGN  NATIONS 

(Chaps.  13-23) 

13 : 1  Prophecy  Concerning  Babylon  (13  :  1-14  :  23) 

The  Doom  of  Babylon  (Chap.  13) 

13.       The  ^  burden  of  Babylon,  which  Isaiah  the  son  of 
Amoz  did  see. 
2.  Set  ye  up  an  ensign  upon  the  bare  mountain, 
Lift  up  the  voice  unto  them, 

1  m.  oracle  concerning. 

Chaps.  13-23.  With  the  exception  of  17  :  3-11,  which  deals 
with  Israel,  and  Chap.  22  with  Jerusalem,  all  the  prophecies  of 
this  group  are  concerned  with  foreign  peoples. 

13:1-14:23.  This  magnificent  poem  has  for  its  theme  the 
destruction  of  Babylon  (13:  19)  and  her  king  (14:4).  It  glows 
from  end  to  end  with  passionate  hatred  of  the  oppressorj  and  looks 
forward  with  grim  satisfaction  to  the  day  of  doom  to  be  ushered 
in  by  Cyrus  and  his  Medes  (13  :  17)  and  Persians. 

I.  Burden,  or  rather  oracle  —  literally,  lifting  up  (of  the  proph- 
et's voice)  —  on  Babylon.  The  Babylon  here  denounced  is  the 
great  empire  that  conquered  and  succeeded  the  Assyrian  empire 
of  Isaiah's  age.  As  the  doom  is  imminent,  the  date  must  fall 
shortly  before  the  capture  of  Babylon  in  538  B.C.  by  Cyrus,  and 
no  doubt  after  he  had  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Median 
empire  (13:  17).  The  passage  would  then  come,  like  Chaps.  40- 
55,  from  the  Babylonian  exile,  and  could  not  belong  to  Isaiah. 
The  headings  of  oracles  were  often  added  by  later  hands. 

The  Gathering  of  the  Enemy  for  the  Attack  on  Babylon  (vss.  2-4) 

Upon  a  bare  mountain,  the  signal  for  the  summons  will  be  more 
clearly  seen.  They,  i.e.  the  Medians  (vs.  17),  are  loudly  sum- 
moned to  enter  the  gates  of  the  princely  Babylonians,  i.e.  Baby- 

108 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  13:8 


Wave  the  hand  that  they  may  go 

Into  the  gates  of  the  nobles. 
I  have  commanded 

My  consecrated  ones, 
Yea,  I  have  called  my  mighty  men  for  mine  anger, 

Even  my  proudly  exulting  ones. 
The  noise  of  a  multitude  in  the  mountains, 

Like  as  of  a  great  people  ! 
The  noise  of  a  tumult  of  the  kingdoms 

Of  the  nations  gathered  together  ! 
The  Lord  of  hosts  mustereth 

The  host  for  the  battle. 

They  come  from  a  far  country, 

From  the  uttermost  part  of  heaven, 
Even  the  Lord,  and  the  weapons  of  his  indignation, 

To  destroy  the  whole  land. 
Howl  ye  ;   for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand ; 

As  destruction  from  the  Almighty  shall  it  come. 
Therefore  shall  all  hands 

Be  feeble. 
And  every  heart  of  man  shall  melt : 

And  they  shall  be  dismayed  ; 
Pangs  and  sorrows  shall  take  hold  of  them; 

They  shall  be  in  pain  as  a  woman  in  travail: 


Ion  itself.  These  proudly  exulting  foreign  warriors  are  actually 
regarded  as  consecrated  (among  the  Semites  war  is  a  sacred  thing, 
of.  I  Sam.  13  :  9)  to  the  service  of  Jehovah,  to  execute  his  anger 
upon  Babylon.  And  hark!  the  sound  of  the  gathering  hosts,  as 
they  are  mustered  by  Jehovah  himself. 

Their  Coming  shall  strike  Terror  into  Babylon  (vss.  5-8) 

Jehovah  comes  at  the  head  of  the  army,  whose  warriors  are  the 
weapons  of  his  indignation.     Well  may  the  Babylonians  howl 

109 


13:9 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


[at.  24 :  29 
-K.  13  :  24 


They  shall  be  amazed  one  at  another ; 
Their  faces  shall  be  faces  of  flame. 

9.  Behold,  the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh,  cruel, 
With  wrath  and  fierce  anger  ; 
To  make  the  land  a  desolation, 

And  to  destroy  the  sinners  thereof  out  of  it. 

10.  For  the  stars  of  heaven  and  the  constellations  thereof 

Shall  not  give  their  Hght : 
The  sun  shall  be  darkened  in  his  going  forth, 
And  the  moon  shall  not  cause  her  light  to  shine. 

11.  And  I  will  punish  the  world  for  their  evil, 

And  the  wicked  for  their  iniquity  ; 
And  I  will  cause  the  arrogancy  of  the  proud  to  cease, 
And  will  lay  low  the  haughtiness  of  the  terrible. 

12.  I  will  make  a  man  more  rare  than  fine  gold. 

Even  a  man  than  the  pure  gold  of  Ophir. 

13.  Therefore  ^  I  will  make  the  heavens  to  tremble. 

And  the  earth  shall  be  shaken  out  of  her  place, 

1  Gr.  tiie  heavens  sliall  trenible. 

(with  vs.  6  cf.  Joel  1:15),  and  their  faces  be  faces  of  flame,  i.e. 
flushed  with  excitement,  as  they  see  the  oncoming  day  of  Jehovah, 
i.e.  of  Jehovah's  triumph  over  them. 

The  Desolation  Wrought  (vss.  9-12) 

The  judgment,  in  which  Babylon  will  fall,  is  a  world-judgmpnt 
(vs.  II  ;  cf.  vs.  9,  the  earth,  rather  than  the  land)  which  will  annihi- 
late the  guilty,  especially  the  proud  and  violent  (vs.  11).  ^  Nature, 
too,  will  be  involved,  the  sun,  moon,  and  constellations  (lit. 
Orions,  cf.  Job  9:9;  38  :  31)  becoming  dark  ;  and  the  survivors  of 
the  judgment  would  be  so  few  that  they  would  be  as  rare  as  fine 
gold. 

The  Horrors  of  the  Judgment  (vss.  13-16) 

There  is  panic  alike  in  nature  and  among  men.  The  merchants, 
of  whom  Babylon  is  full,  will  flee  in  terror,  hke  wandering  or 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  13:18 


In  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
And  in  the  day  of  his  fierce  anger. 

14.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  as  the  chased  ^  roe, 

And  as  sheep  that  no  man  gathereth, 
They  shall  turn  every  man  to  his  own  people, 
And  shall  flee  every  man  to  his  own  land. 

15.  Every  one  that  is  found  shcill  be  thrust  through ; 

And  every  one  that  is  taken  shall  fall  by  the  sword. 

16.  Their  infants  also  shall  be  dashed  in  pieces 

Before  their  eyes; 
Their  houses  shall  be  spoiled. 
And  their  wives  ravished. 

17.  Behold,  I  will  stir  up  the  Medes 

Against  them, 
Which  shall  not  regard  silver, 

And  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in  it. 

18.  And  their  bows  shall  dash 

The  young  men  in  pieces  ; 
And  they  shall  have  no  pity  on  the  fruit  of  the  womb  ; 
Their  eye  shall  not  spare  children. 

1  m.  gazelle. 


hunted  animals  (roes  or  gazelles)  each  to  his  own  land ;  and  the 
Babylonians  —  every  one  that  is  taken  or  caught  —  shall  die  a 
bloody  death.  In  point  of  fact,  the  conquerors  did  not  behave 
according  to  the  hopes  expressed  in  vss.  15  f. 

The  Medes  are  to  he  the  Destroyers  (vss.  17-19) 

17.  Not  till  now  are  we  told  by  what  historical  power  the  de- 
struction is  to  be  effected.  Cyrus  was  in  reality  a  Persian;  but 
after  overthrowing  the  Median  dynasty  in  549  B.C.,  he  united  the 
Medes  and  Persians  under  his  sway,  and  some  of  his  generals 
appear  to  have  been  Medes.  No  bribes  of  silver  or  gold  will 
divert  them  from  their  vengeance. 

18.  The  first  clause  makes  little  sense,  and  the  metre  is  defective. 

in 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


19.  And  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms, 

The  beauty  of  the  Chaldeans'  pride, 
Shall  be  as  when  God  overthrew 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

20.  It  shall  never  be  inhabited. 

Neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to 
generation : 
Neither  shall  the  Arabian  pitch  there  ; 

Neither  shall  shepherds  make  their  flocks  to  he  down 
there. 

21.  But  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there ; 

And  their  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful  creatures; 
And  ostriches  shall  dwell  there, 
And  ^  satyrs  shall  dance  there. 

1  m.  he-goats. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  original  may  have  run  somewhat  as 
follows  (cf.  Jer.  50 :  42) : 

Bow  and  spear  they  hold, 

Cruel  are  they, 
All  the  young  men  they  smite 

And  the  maidens  in  pieces  are  dashed.     (So  Marti.) 

19.  At  the  hands  of  the  Medes,  the  fate  of  the  glorious  Babylon 
would  be  as  terrible  as  that  of  Sodom  (Gen.  19).  The  Chaldeans, 
near  the  north  end  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  became  in  the  seventh 
century  B.C.  masters  of  Babylonia,  so  that  Chaldean  is  prac- 
tically equivalent  to  Babylonian. 

Babylon  a  Wild  Desolation  (vss.  20-22) 

The  destruction  of  the  city  would  be  so  thorough^  that  its  site 
would  be  for  ever  the  gloomy  haunt  of  wild  beasts  —  incarnations, 
as  it  were,  of  evil  spirits  (cf.  Rev.  18  :  2). 

No  trading  Arabian,  or  Bedouin,  with  his  caravan,  would  pitch 
his  tent  there.  No  shepherds  with  their  flocks  would  be  there, 
but  wild  cats,  and  creatures  that  howl;  to  the  music  of  their  bowl- 
ings the  satyrs  or  wild  goats  (cf.  Lev.   17:  7)  —  demons  (so  the 

112 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  14:2 


22.  And  ^  wolves  shall  cry  in  their  castles, 
And  jackals  in  the  pleasant  palaces  : 
And  her  time  is  near  to  come, 
And  her  days  shall  not  be  prolonged. 

Song  of  Triumph  over  the  Fall  of  Babylon's  King  (14  :  1-23) 

14.  For  the  Lord  will  have  compassion  on  Jacob,  and 
will  yet  choose  Israel,  and  set  them  in  their  own  land  : 
and  the  stranger  shall  join  himself  with  them,  and  they 
2.  shall  cleave  to  the  house  of  Jacob.  And  the  peoples 
shall  take  them,  and  bring  them  to  their  place :  and 
the  house  of  Israel  shall  possess  them  in  the  land  of 
the  Lord  for  servants  and  for  handmaids  :  and  they 
shall  take  them  captive,  whose  captives  they  were ; 
and  they  shall  rule  over  their  oppressors. 

1  Heb.  howling  creatures. 

Greek  version)  incarnate  —  would  dance  ;  and  soon  in  the  palaces 
where  pleasure  reigned  jackals  would  howl  to  each  other. 

The  streets  and  happy  halls  of  Babylon  would  be  a  grim  deso- 
lation, with  supernatural  horror  hanging  about  them.  Such 
were  not,  in  point  of  fact,  the  consequences  of  the  capture  of 
Babylon ;  the  Hebrew  poet  is  here  giving  expression  to  his  pas- 
sionate hopes. 

14:  1-23.  This  song  is  even  more  brilliant  than  the  last.  It 
describes  with  wonderful  realism  the  joy  of  Israel  and  of  the  world 
at  the  downfall  of  the  Babylonian  oppressor,  the  ironical  welcome 
he  receives  from  the  shades  in  the  underworld,  and  the  infinite 
contrast  between  his  soaring  ambitions  and  his  humiliating  fate. 

i-4a.  The  real  song  begins  with  vs.  4b;  vss.  i-4a  serve  to  con- 
nect this  song  with  the  last.  They  bring  out,  in  an  intensely 
national  and,  in  fact,  ungenerous  way,  the  significance  of  the  fall 
of  Babylon  for  Israel.  The  joy  of  the  return  to  the  home-land  is 
very  natural,  and  the  vision  of  the  strangers,  or  proselytes,  being 
joined  (in  marriage,  for  example)  to  the  Jews,  is  altogether  worthy 
_(cf.  Is.  56  :  3-7,  Zech.  2:  11).  But  it  is  by  the  heathen  that  Israel 
is  to  be  brought  to  her  own  land  (cf.  49:  23),  and  there  they  are 
to  be  the  servants  of  their  Jewish  masters,  who  are  themselves  to 
I  113 


14:3  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


3.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  day  that  the  Lord 
shall  give  thee  rest  from  thy  sorrow,  and  from  thy 
trouble,  and  from  the  hard  service  wherein  thou  wast 

4.  made  to  serve,  that  thou  shalt  take  up  this  parable 
against  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  say, 

How  hath  the  oppressor  ceased  ! 
The  ^  golden  city  ceased  ! 

5.  The  Lord  hath  broken  the  staff  of  the  wicked, 

The  sceptre  of  the  rulers  ; 

6.  That  smote  the  peoples  in  wrath 

With  a  continual  stroke, 
That  ruled  the  nations  in  anger, 

With  a  persecution  that  none  restrained. 

7.  The  whole  earth  is  at  rest,  and  is  quiet : 

They  break  forth  into  singing. 

8.  Yea,  the  fir  trees  rejoice  at  thee. 

And  the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  saying^ 
"Since  thou  art  laid  low,  no  feller 
Is  come  up  against  us." 

9.  2  Hell  from  beneath  is  moved  for  thee 

To  meet  thee  at  thy  coming  : 

1  m.  exactress.        2  Heb.  Sheol. 


be  spared  all  that  sorrow,  unrest,  and  toil,  which  is  the  general  lot 
of  man  (Gen.  3  :  16  ff.  ;  Job  14  :  i).  Then  follows  the  grea-t  taunt- 
song  (rather  than  parable). 

The  Joy  of  the  World  at  the  Fall  of  the  Mighty  Tyrant  (vss.  4b-8) 

Read  (in  vs.  4) :  How  is  the  oppressor  stilled  —  the  storming 
stilled.  He  is  the  staff  which  smote  the  peoples,  and  trampled  the 
nations  in  wrath  with  tramp  (not  persecution)  unrelenting.  Well 
may  earth  break  into  a  ringing  cry,  and  even  inanimate  nature, 
like  the  stately  cedars  of  Lebanon,  that  had  been  felled  for  pur- 
poses of  building  and  instruments  of  war. 

114 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


14 :  12 


It  stirreth  up  the  ^  dead  for  thee, 
Even  all  the  ^  chief  ones  of  the  earth 

It  hath  raised  up  from  their  thrones 
All  the  kings  of  the  nations. 

10.  All  they  shall  answer 

And  say  unto  thee, 
"Art  thou  also  become  weak  as  we, 
Art  thou  become  Hke  unto  us  ?" 

11.  Thy  pomp  is  brought  down  to  ^  hell. 

And  the  noise  of  thy  viols  : 
The  worm  is  spread  under  thee, 
And  worms  cover  thee. 


12. 


How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven, 
O  day  star,  son  of  the  morning  ! 

How  art  thou  cut  down  to  the  ground, 
Which  didst  lay  low  the  nations  ! 


Rev.  8 :  10 


m.  the  shades ;    Heb.  repliaim.       2  Heb.  he-goats.       ^  Heb.  Sheol. 


The  Excitement  in  the  Underworld  at  the  Approach  of  Babylon's 
King  (vss.  9-1 1 ) 

Earth  is  quiet;  Hell,  i.e.  Sheol,  the  underworld,  is  moved; 
a  fine  contrast.  It  rouses  the  shades  (cf.  i  Sam.  28:  15)  or  ghosts 
(rephaim,  same  word  as  is  used  in  Deut.  2  :  20  of  extinct  giants), 
all  earth's  chief  ones,  leaders  (Ht.  bell-wethers)  —  dead  kings  are 
meant :  kings  on  earth,  shadow  kings  in  the  underworld.  They 
rise  to  offer  their  ironical  welcome  to  the  newly  arrived  king,  who 
is  now  not  even  a  shadow-king  —  worms  are  his  couch  and  his 
coverlet.  Others  have  thrones,  his  fate  among  the  worms  is  the 
worst  of  all.  The  music  of  his  banquets  has  given  place  to  music 
of  a  very  different  kind  (13  :  21). 

The  King's  Ambition  and  Fall  (vss.   12-15) 

Aspiring  to  heaven,  to  be  worshipped  like  the  morning  star, 
son  of  the  dawn,  he  is  struck  down  to  earth,  yes,  to  Sheol,  down  to 
its  lowest  depths  —  he  who  on  earth  laid  nations  prostrate ;   or,  by 

IIS 


14:13  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


13.  And  thou  saidst  in  thine  heart, 

"I  will  ascend  into  heaven, 
I  will  exalt  my  throne 

Above  the  stars  of  God ; 
And  I  will  sit  upon  the  mount  of  congregation, 

In  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  north  : 

14.  I  will  ascend  above  the  heights  of  the  clouds ; 

I  will  be  Hke  the  Most  High." 

15.  Yet  thou  shalt  be  brought  down  to  ^  hell, 

To  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  pit. 

16.  They  that  see  thee  shall  narrowly  look  upon  thee, 

They  shall  consider  thee,  saying, 
"Is  this  the  man  that  made  the  earth  to  tremble, 
That  did  shake  kingdoms  ; 

17.  That  made  the  world  as  a  wilderness. 

And  overthrew  the  cities  thereof ; 
That  let  not  loose  his  prisoners 
To  their  home  ?  " 

18.  All  the  kings  of  the  nations,  all  of  them,  sleep  in  glory, 

Every  one  in  his  own  house. 

19.  But  thou  art  cast  forth  away  from  thy  sepulchre 

Like  an  abominable  branch, 

1  Heb.  Sheol. 

a  suggested  change,  the  words  may  mean,  "  now  lying  stiff  (a 
corpse)  upon  corpses." 

^  The  mount  of  congregation,  or  assembly  to  which  the  king  as- 
pired, was  in  the  recesses  of  the  mysterious  north,  and  apparently 
denotes  the  mountain  where  mythical  imagination  had  apparently 
supposed  the  gods  to  meet. 

The  World's  Astonishment  at  the  King  of  Babylon's  Fate  (vss.  16-19) 

Those  who  look  upon  his  corpse  are  struck  by  the  contrast 
between  the  power  and  glory  of  his  life  and  the  impotence  and  dis- 
grace of  his  death. 

116 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  14:21 


i 


Clothed  with  the  slain, 

That  are  thrust  through  with  the  sword, 
That  go  down  to  the  stones  of  the  pit ; 

As  a  carcase  trodden  under  foot. 

20.  Thou  shalt  not  be  joined 

With  them  in  burial, 
Because  thou  hast  destroyed  thy  land, 

Thou  hast  slain  thy  people  ; 
The  seed  of  evil-doers 

Shall  not  be  named  for  ever. 

21.  Prepare  ye  slaughter  for  his  children 

For  the  iniquity  of  their  fathers  ; 

Probably  the  last  clause  of  vs.  18  should  be  moved  to  vs.  17, 
and  the  whole  read  thus  : 

Who  let  not  his  prisoners  go  free, 

Each  to  his  house. 
The  kings  of  the  nations,  one  and  all 
Rest  in  honor, 
{i.e.  in  their  splendid  graves). 

In  contrast  to  the  honorable  burial  of  the  other  kings  is  the  awful 
fate  of  Babylon's  king.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose,  with 
some  scholars,  that  some  words  in  vs.  19  have  been  accidentally 
transposed,  and  some  perhaps  omitted.  The  following  restoration 
has  been  proposed : 

How  art  thou  cast  out  among  the  slain, 

That  are  pierced  by  the  sword, 
Going  down  to  the  floor  of  the  pit, 

Like  a  corpse  that  is  trodden  on  1 
How  art  thou  cut  of  from  thy  grave. 

Like  a  scion  abhorred ! 
How  dost  thou  lie  inglorious. 
Clothed  in  shame. 
For  scion  (here  apparently  =  member  of  a  family),  a  similar  word 
meaning  untimely  birth  has  been  proposed. 

His  Family  shall  be  Exterminated  (vss.  20,  21) 

His  doom  shall  be  the  extinction  of  his  family  —  a  doom  justi- 
fied by  his  tyranny.     Vs.  20  should  perhaps  read :    As  for  thy 

117 


14:22  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


That  they  rise  not  up,  and  possess  the  earth, 
And  fill  the  face  of  the  worid  with  ^  cities. 

22.  And  I  will  rise  up  against  them,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  and  cut  off  from  Babylon  name  and  remnant, 

23.  and  son  and  son's  son,  saith  the  Lord.  I  will  also 
make  it  a  possession  for  the  porcupine,  and  pools  of 
water  :  and  I  will  sweep  it  with  the  besom  of  destruc- 
tion, saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

Jehovah's  Invincible  World  Plan  (14 :  24-27) 

24.  The  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sworn,  saying, 

Surely  as  I  have  thought,  so  shall  it  come  to  pass  ; 
And  as  I  have  purposed,  so  shall  it  stand  : 

25.  That  I  will  break  the  Assyrian  in  my  land. 

And  upon  my  mountains  tread  him  under  foot : 
Then  shall  his  yoke  depart  from  off  them. 

And  his  burden  depart  from  off  their  shoulder. 

1  Gr.  wars. 

fathers,  thou  shalt  not  be  joined  with  them,  etc. ;  and  the  seed  of  the 
evildoer,  etc.  Also  in  vs.  21,  restd  father  for  fathers;  and  with 
cities  (at  the  end)  should  perhaps  be  dropped. 

22,  23.  These  verses,  a  sort  of  epilogue,  repeat  and  confirm  the 
assurance  that  Babylon  will  be  utterly  destroyed  (cf.  13  :  21  f.). 

This  poem,  like  the  last  (Chap.  13)  was  written  before  the  cap- 
ture of  Babylon  in  538  B.C.  The  use  of  the  perfect  tense  through- 
out in  the  Hebrew  is  a  graphic  way  of  representing  the  impending 
fall  of  the  king  as  an  already  accomplished  fact.  Both  these  poems, 
especially  the  latter,  are  marked  by  intense  emotional  power,  vivid 
imagination,  and  great  hterary  skill.  The  contrasts  between  the 
quiet  upon  earth  and  the  movement  in  Sheol,  between  the  ambition 
of  the  king  and  his  downfall,  are  executed  with  great  dramatic 
power. 

24-27.  This  oracle  brings  us  back  to  the  times  and  the  work  of 
Isaiah.  It  solemnly  foretells  the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian  — 
probably  Sennacherib  and  his  army  —  in  my  land,  i.e.  Palestine 
(with  25b  cf.  10:  27).     The  subhme  thought  is  reached  that  Je- 

118 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


26.  This  is  the  purpose  that  is  purposed  upon  the  whole 

earth : 
And  this  is  the  hand  that  is  stretched  out  upon  all 
the  nations. 

27.  For  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  purposed,  and  who  shall 

disannul  it? 
And  his  hand  is  stretched  out,  and  who  shall  turn 
it  back  ? 

Warning  to  Philistia  (14 :  28-32)   ■ 

28.  In  the  year  that  king  Ahaz  died  was  this  ^  burden. 

29.  Rejoice  not,  O  Phihstia,  all  of  thee, 

Because  the  rod  that  smote  thee  is  broken  : 
For  out  of  the  serpent's  root  shall  come  forth  a  basilisk^ 
And  his  fruit  shall  be  a  fiery  flying  serpent. 

1  m.  oracle. 


hovah's  plan  is  wide  as  the  world,  and  no  power  can  frustrate  it. 
Very  impressive  is  the  figure  of  the  outstretched  Hand  (cf.  9:  12, 
etc.)  which  nothing  can  turn  back.  Isaiah  has  a  splendid  sense 
of  the  unity  of  history,  and  of  the  divine  purpose  that  inspires 
and  controls  it.  Vss.  26,  27  constitute  one  of  the  most  daring 
and  magnificent  thoughts  in  the  Old  Testament — the  invincible 
world-purpose  of  God. 

28-32.  The  general  sense  of  this  brief  oracle  is  plain,  its  particu- 
lar application  is  obscure.  It  reminds  Philistia  that  her  joy  at  the 
destruction  of  her  tyrant  is  ill-timed,  as  there  is  a  worse  tyranny  to 
follow.  But  whether  the  new  tyrant  is  the  old,  with  strength 
recovered,  or  his  successor,  is  not  clear;  and  the  obscurity  is 
heightened  by  our  uncertainty  as  to  the  year  of  King  Ahaz's 
death.  It  is  fairly  certain  that  the  tyrant  alluded  to  is  in  both 
cases  an  Assyrian  ruler  —  Sargon  in  both  cases,  if  vs.  29  refers 
to  a  defeat  which  he  sustained  in  Babylonia  about  720  B.C.;  if, 
however,  the  reference  is  to  Sargon's  death  in  705  B.C.,  his  basilisk 
successor  would  be  Sennacherib.  PhiUstine  territory  was  re- 
peatedly ravaged  by  the  Assyrians. 

29.  For  fiery  serpent  read  dragon. 
119 


14:30  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


30.  And  the  first-bom  of  the  poor  shall  feed, 

And  the  needy  shall  He  down  in  safety : 
And  I  will  kill  thy  root  with  famine, 
And  thy  remnant  shall  be  slain. 

31.  Howl,  0  gate  ;  cry,  O  city  ; 

Thou  art  melted  away,  O  PhiHstia,  all  of  thee ; 
For  there  cometh  a  smoke  out  of  the  north, 
^  And  none  standeth  aloof  at  his  appointed  times. 

32.  What  then  shall  one  answer 

The  messengers  of  the  nation  ? 
That  the  Lord  hath  founded  Zion, 

And  in  her  shall  the  afflicted  of  his  people  take  refuge. 

1  m.  SV  there  is  no  straggler  in  his  ranks. 

30.  While  the  Philistines  are  doomed,  the  Judseans  are  safe; 
it  is  they  that  are  meant  by  the  needy  and  the  poor  who  shall  feed 
on  my  meadows  (as  we  should  probabl)^  read  instead  of  the  firstborn 
of).     For  shall  be  slain,  read  /  ivill  slay. 

31.  Philistia  is  called  upon  to  howl,  cry,  and  melt  away  (=im- 
per.),  because  out  of  the  north  (cf.  10 :  28  ff.)  comes  the  smoke  of 
war,  which  reveals  the  trail  of  the  Assyrian  army,  and  no  straggler 
is  found  in  his  ranks  (cf.  5  :  27  ff.). 

32.  The  messengers  of  the  nation,  i.e.  the  Philistine  envoys, 
will  come,  in  their  terror,  to  solicit  the  aid  of  Judah ;  but  Judah's 
answer,  inspired  by  Isaiah,  will  be  a  refusal.  Jerusalem  is  safe, 
founded  and  defended  as  she  is  by  Jehovah  himself. 

Chaps.  15  and  16.  With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  verses 
(15  :  9;  16 :  2,  13  f.),  which  are  in  the  prophetic  strain,  these  two 
chapters  (15,  16)  constitute  a  lament  over  Moab,  which  has  been 
devastated  in  some  invasion.  The  invaders,  who  are  not  named, 
are  probably  either  IsraeHtes  of  the  time  of  Jeroboam  II  (781-740 
B.C.)  who  recovered  much  of  Israel's  ancient  territory  (2  Kings 
14:  25,  28),  or  possibly  Arabian  tribes  from  the  desert. 

The  two  chief  fortresses  have  fallen  before  the  invaders  (15  :  i). 
The  news  of  their  fall  spread  northwards,  bringing  consternation 
wherever  it  goes.  The  people  flee  southwards  to  Edom;  from 
there  they  send  to  Judah  a  pitiful  appeal  for  protection.  The 
appeal  is   rejected,  and  the  poet  continues  his  lamentation  for 


Jerusalem 


^^^  °Heshbon 


10  IB 


WllUanu  E(igr«Tliig  ComK.T. 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Lament  over  Moab  (Chaps.  15  and  16) 

15.      The  burden  of  Moab. 
For  in  a  night  Ar  of  Moab 

Is  laid  waste,  and  brought  to  nought : 
For  in  a  night  Kir  of  Moab 

Is  laid  waste,  and  brought  to  nought. 

2.  He  is  gone  up  to  Bayith,  and  to  Dibon, 

To  the  high  places,  to  weep  ; 
Moab  howleth  over  Nebo, 

And  over  Medeba : 
On  all  their  heads  is  baldness, 

Every  beard  is  cut  off. 

3.  In  their  streets  they  gird  themselves  with  sackcloth : 

On  their  housetops, 
And  in  their  broad  places  every  one  howleth, 
Weeping  abundantly. 

4.  And  Heshbon  crieth  out,  and  Elealeh  ; 

Their  voice  is  heard  even  unto  Jahaz. 

Moab,  bewailing  especially  the  fate  of  her  glorious  vineyards  which 
now  ring  with  shouts  not  of  vintage,  but  of  war ;  and  no  prayers 
shall  avail  to  save  her. 

To  this  poem  (15:  1-16  :  12),  which,  whether  we  consider  its 
literary  style  or  its  absence  of  prophetic  thought,  is  probably  not 
Isaiah's,  but  the  work  of  a  somewhat  older  poet,  are  appended 
two  verses  (16  :  13  f.),  most  probably  Isaiah's  (at  any  rate  vs.  14), 
which  regard  the  preceding  lament  as  a  prophecy  and  assert  its 
fulfilment,  i.e.  the  humiUation  of  Moab,  within  three  years. 

Consternation  at  the  Fall  of  the  Fortresses  (vss.  1-4) 

• "  I.  At  on  the  Arnon  (which  flows  into  the  Dead  Sea  at  a  point 
about  the  middle  of  its  east  side),  and  Kir  (apparently  =  Kir-heres 
or  hareseth,  16:  7,  11)  to  the  south  of  Ar,  were  the  two  chief  for- 
tified cities  of  Moab. 

2-4.  The  news  spreads  north  to  Dibon  (where  in  1868  the  now 
famous  Moabite  stone  was  found),  further  north  to  Nebo,  due  east 
of  the  northern  end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  Medeba,  a  little  south  of 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Therefore  the  armed  men  of  Moab  cry  aloud ; 
His  soul  trembleth  within  him. 

5.  My  heart  crieth  out  for  Moab  ; 

Her  ^  nobles  flee  unto  Zoar,  to  Eglath-shelishiyah : 
For  by  the  ascent  of  Luhith 

With  weeping  they  go  up  ; 
For  in  the  way  of  Horonaim 

They  raise  up  a  cry  of  destruction. 

6.  For  the  waters  of  Nimrim    . 

Shall  be  desolate : 
For  the  grass  is  withered  away,  the  tender  grass  faileth, 
There  is  no  green  thing. 

7.  Therefore  the  abundance  they  have  gotten, 

And  that  which  they  have  laid  up, 
Shall  they  carry  away 
2  To  the  brook  of  the  willows. 

1  m.  fugitives.        2  m.  SV  over. 

Nebo,  Heshbon  and  Elealeh,  a  little  north.  Vs.  2  should  perhaps 
read:  The  daughter  (  =  the  people)  of  Dihon  (cf.  Jer.  48:  18)  is 
gone  up  to  the  high  places  {i.e.  the  sanctuaries)  to  weep.  Moab 
wails  upon  (not  over)  Nebo,  etc.  Everywhere  —  in  streets,  on 
roofs,  in  squares,  are  to  be  heard  and  seen  all  the  signs  of  mourning. 
For  the  armed  men,  etc.,  in  vs.  4,  read  perhaps  the  loins  of  Moab 
quiver. 

The  Flight  of  the  Moabites  (vss.  5-9) 

The  people  flee  southwards.  Zoar  is  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  Dead  Sea;  Eglath  Shelishiyah,  perhaps  =  the  third  Eglath, 
in  distinction  from  two  others  (cf.  Jer.  48:  34).  Luhith,  between 
Ar  and  Zoar;  Horonaim,  probably  in  the  neighborhood  of  Zoar; 
Nimrim,  between  Horonaim  and  Zoar.  Its  waters  become  desola- 
tions, through  being  stopped  by  the  enemy;  for  this  and  the 
destruction  of  the  fruitful  land,  cf.  2  Kings  3:  25.  The  fleeing 
Moabites  carry  their  property  with  them  over  the  brook  of  the 
willows,  probably  the  brook  at  the  southern  end  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
which  forms  the  boundary  between  Moab  and  Edom.     The  wail- 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  16:2 


8.  For  the  cry  is  gone  round 

About  the  borders  of  Moab  ; 
The  howHng  thereof  unto  Eglaim, 
And  the  howHng  thereof  unto  Beer-elim. 

9.  For  the  waters  of  Dimon 

Are  full  of  blood ; 
For  I  will  bring 

Yet  more  upon  Dimon, 
A  Hon  upon  him  that  escapeth  of  Moab, 

And  upon  the  remnant  of  the  land. 

16.  Send  ye  the  lambs 

For  the  ruler  of  the  land 
From  ^  Sela  wJiich  is  toward  the  wilderness, 
Unto  the  mount  of  the  daughter  of  Zion. 
2.  For  it  shall  be  that,  as  wandering  birds. 

As  a  scattered  nest, 
So  shall  the  daughters  of  Moab  be 
At  the  fords  of  Amon. 

1  m.  Petra. 

ing  resounds  as  far  as  Eglaim  in  the  south,  and  Beer-elim,  possibly 
in  the  north  (cf.  Num.  21:16)  and  therefore  =  throughout  the 
land,  from  N.  to  S.,  but  probably  in  the  south,  as  also  apparently 
Dimon. 

The  last  half  of  vs.  9  and  16 :  2  strike  the  prophetic  note.  I  is 
of  course  Jehovah;  and  the  lion  is  some  yet  fiercer  enemy  (cf. 
14:29),  —  probably  the  Assyrian.  This  vs.  should  perhaps  be 
directly  followed  by  16:  2,  which  vividly  compares  the  effect  of 
the  lion's  appearance  upon  the  daughters  (i.e.  the  communities) 
of  Moab  to  the  panic  and  flight  of  alarmed  birds. 

Moab's  Earnest  Appeal  to  Judah  for  Protection  (16:  i,  3-5) 

The  fugitives  are  now  in  Edom,  and  from  Sela  (or  Petra),  its 
capital,  they  sent  (so  Duhm)  lambs  as  tribute  (exactly  as  the  king 
of  Moab  does  in  2  Kings  3:4)  by  way  of  the  wilderness  which 
separates  Sela  from  Jerusalem,  to  the  mount  of  the  daughter  of 

123 


i6:3  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


3.  Give  counsel, 

Execute  judgement ; 
Make  thy  shadow  as  the  night 

In  the  midst  of  the  noonday : 
Hide  the  outcasts ; 

Bewray  not  the  wanderer. 

4.  ^  Let  mine  outcasts 

Dwell  with  thee ; 
As  for  Moab,  be  thou  a  covert  to  him 
From  the  face  of  the  spoiler. 

For  the  extortioner  is  brought  to  nought, 

SpoiHng  ceaseth, 
The  oppressors  are  consumed  out  of  the  land. 

5.  And  a  throne  shall  be  established  in  mercy, 
And  one  shall  sit  thereon  in  truth, 

In  the  tent  of  David  ; 
Judging,  and  seeking  judgement, 
And  swift  to  do  righteousness. 

6.  We  have  heard  of  the  pride  of  Moab, 

That  he  is  very  proud ; 
Even  of  his  arrogancy,  and  his  pride,  and  his  wrath  ; 
His  boastings  are  nought. 

1  m.  Gr.  Syr.  Tar.  let  the  outcasts  of  Moab  dwell  with  thee. 


Zion ;  i.e.  they  supplicate  the  help  of  Judah,  saying,  "  Give 
counsel,  make  your  decision  in  our  behalf,  when  the  enemy  demand 
our  surrender;  be  to  us  as  a  protecting  shadow  (cf.  32  :  2).  Lei 
the  outcasts  of  Moab  dwell  as  sojourners  with  (and  therefore  pro- 
tected by)  thee,  etc.  When  (rather  than  for)  the  oppressor  is  no 
more  .  .  .  then  shall  the  throne  (apparently  of  Judah)  he  estab- 
lished in  loving-kindness,  and  there  shall  sit  upon  it  .  .  .  one  who 
judges  and  seeks  justice,''^  etc. 

6.  The  very  earnest  and  flattering  appeal  of  Moab  is  rejected, 
because  Judah  knows  too  well  Moab's  pride  and  insolence  and 
baseless  pratings,  illustrated  in  part  by  this  very  appeal. 

124 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  i6 


7.  Therefore  shall  Moab  howl  for  Moab, 

Every  one  shall  howl : 
For  the  raisin-cakes  of  Kir-hareseth 
Shall  ye  mourn,  utterly  stricken. 

8.  For  the  fields  of  Heshbon  languish, 

And  the  vine  of  Sibmah  ; 
1  The  lords  of  the  nations  have  broken  down 

The  choice  plants  thereof ; 
They  reached  even  unto  Jazer, 

They  wandered  into  the  wilderness  ; 
Her  branches  were  spread  abroad, 

They  passed  over  the  sea. 

9.  Therefore  I  mil  weep  with  the  weeping  of  Jazer 

For  the  vine  of  Sibmah  : 
I  will  water  thee  with  my  tears, 
O  Heshbon  and  Elealeh  : 

1  m.  fier  choice  plants  did  break  down  the  lords  of  nations. 

MoaVs  Lament  (vss.  7,  8) 

Her  appeal  is  rejected,  therefore  Moab  wails.  The  attack 
appears  to  have  been  made  in  autumn,  the  season  of  the  vintage, 
and  through  vss.  7-1 1  runs  the  wail  for  the  destruction  of  Mpab's 
famous  vineyards.  There  are  now  no  grape  or  raisin  cakes  to 
celebrate  the  vintage  festival  (cf.  Hos.  3:1).  For  Kir-hareseth 
and  Kir-heres  (vs.  11)  cf.  15:1;  Heshbon,  15:4;  Sibmah,  near 
Heshbon.  The  famous  red  grapes  had  smitten  down,  i.e.  intoxi- 
cated, the  lords  of  the  nations  —  princes  in  many  lands.  The 
writer  "  represents  the  whole  vine  culture  of  the  district  under 
the  image  of  a  single  vine,  which  reached  to  Jazer  in  the  north, 
strayed  to  the  desert  on  the  east,  and  passed  to  the  (Dead)  Sea  on 
the  west  "  (Skinner). 

The  Foetus  Lament  (vss.  9-1 1) 

The  poet  shares  Jazer's  sorrow  at  the  devastation  of  the  vine- 
yards. The  glad  shout  of  the  vintage  has  been  exchanged  for  the 
terrible  shout  of  war. 

125 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


For  upon  thy  summer  fruits  and  upon  thy  harvest 
The  battle  shout  is  fallen. 

10.  And  gladness  is  taken  away,  and  joy 

Out  of  the  fruitful  field  ; 
And  in  the  vineyards  there  shall  be  no  singing, 

Neither  joyful  noise : 
No  treader  shall  tread  out  wine  in  the  presses  ; 

I  have  made  the  vintage  shout  to  cease. 

11.  Wherefore  my  bowels  sound 

Like  an  harp  for  Moab, 
And  mine  inward  parts  for  Kir-heres. 

12.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  Moab  presenteth 
himself,  when  he  wearieth  himself  upon  the  high  place, 
and  shall  come  to  his  sanctuary  to  pray,  that  he  shall 
not  prevail. 

13.  This  is  the  word  that  the  Lord  spake  concerning 

14.  Moab  in  time  past.  But  now  the  Lord  hath  spoken, 
saying,  ''Within  three  years,  as  the  years  of  an  hireling, 
and  the  glory  of  Moab  shall  be  brought  into  contempt, 
with  all  his  great  multitude  ;  and  the  remnant  shall  be 
very  small  and  of  no  account." 


12.  Moab's  calamity  would  drive  him  to  pray  to  his  god  Che- 
mosh,  but  his  prayer  would  be  futile.  Perhaps  we  should  simply 
read:    When  Moab  wearies  himself  (omitting  presenteth). 

13,  14.  Vs.  13  regards  the  preceding  lament  as  a  prophecy 
given  in  time  past,  which,  according  to  vs.  14,  will  be  fulfilled  — 
doubtless  by  the  Assyrians  within  three  years,  a  hireling  or  mer- 
cenary soldier's  time  of  service. 

The  wealth  of  unfamihar  proper  names  in  this  elegy  has  partly 
obscured  for  us  its  real  poetic  merit.  The  poem  is  written  with 
much  feehng,  and  in  places  (cf.  16  :  8-10)  with  real  hterary  power. 
The  passage  has  been  utiHzed  in  the  oracle  on  Moab  in  Jer. 
48.  Moab  must  have  possessed  at  this  time  a  relatively  high 
civilization.  Six  or  seven  of  the  place-names  here  mentioned 
occur  also  on  the  Moabite  stone,  which  was  erected  about  850  B.C. 

126 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Prophecy  concerning  Damascus  and  Northern  Israel 
(17  :  i-ii) 

The  Destmction  of  Damascus  (17  : 1-3) 

17.      The  1  burden  of  Damascus. 

Behold,  Damascus  is  taken  away  from  being  a  city, 
And  it  shall  be  a  ruinous  heap. 

2.  2  The  cities  of  Aroer  are  forsaken  ;    they  shall  be  for 

flocks, 
Which  shall  he  down,  and  none  shall  make  them  afraid. 

3.  The  fortress  also  shall  cease  from  Ephraim, 

And  the  kingdom  from  Damascus,  and  the  remnant 
of  Syria ; 
They  shall  be  as  the  glory  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
Saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

1  m.  oracle  concerning.  2  Gr.  forsaken  for  ever. 

by  Mesha  the  king  to  commemorate  his  victories  over  Israel,  and 
discovered  among  the  ruins  of  Dibon  in  1868  a.d. 

17:  i-ii.  This  prophecy  deals  not  only,  as  the  superscription 
suggests,  with  Damascus,  the  capital  of  Syria  (Aram),  but  even 
more  specifically  with  Israel,  announcing  the  utter  destruction  of 
the  former  kingdom,  and  the  all  but  utter  destruction  of  the  latter. 

The  prophecy  falls  about  735  B.C.,  at  any  rate  before  the  united 
assault  of  Syria  and  Israel  upon  Judah  alluded  to  in  7  :  i  f . 

2.  As  nothing  is  known  of  a  Syrian  Aroer,  though  by  the  con-- 
text  it  ought  to  be  a  well-known  district  or  city,  we  may  adopt  the 
slight  change  of  text,  supported  in  part  by  the  Greek  version, 
which  would  give  us : 

A  ruin  shall  she  be  for  ever, 
Her  cities  shall  be  for  flocks. 

3.  Ephraim,  i.e.  northern  Israel,  shall  lose  her  fortress,  i.e. 
either  Samaria,  the  capital  city,  or  possibly  Syria,  which  was 
Israel's  bulwark  against  the  advance  of  Assyria.  The  last  clauses 
should  perhaps  read. 

And  the  remnant  of  Syria  shall  perish, 
They  shall  be  as  the  children  of  Israel. 
127 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Doom  of  Israel  (17:4-11) 

4.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  on  that  day,  that 
The  glory  of  Jacob  shall  be  made  thin, 

And  the  fatness  of  his  flesh  shall  wax  lean. 

5.  And  it  shall  be  as  when  the  harvestman  gathereth  the 

standing  corn, 
And  his  arm  reapeth  the  ears  ; 
Yea,  it  shall  be  as  when  one  gleaneth  ears 
In  the  valley  of  Rephaim. 

6.  Yet  there  shall  be  left  therein  gleanings, 

As  the  ^  shaking  of  an  olive  tree. 
Two  or  three  berries 

In  the  top  of  the  uppermost  bough, 
Four  or  five 

In  the  outmost  branches  of  a  fruitful  tree, 
Saith  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel. 

7.  In  that  day  shall  a  man  look  unto  his  Maker, 

And  his  eyes  shall  have  respect  to  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel. 

8.  And  he  shall  not  look  to  the  altars,  the  work  of  his 

hands. 
Neither  shall  he  have  respect  to  that  which  his  fingers 

1  m.  Heb.  beating. 

The  powerful  city  was  doomed  to  be  a  quiet  pasture  land.  In 
point  of  fact,  Damascus  fell  before  the  Assyrians,  in  732  B.C. 

4-6.  Israel's  doom  (Jacob  =  Israel)  is  sealed  in  that  day  —  the  day 
when  Damascus  falls,  for  Damascus  was  Israel's  bulwark  (vs.  3). 
The  doom  is  described  in  three  figures  :  (i)  as  a  wasting  away  of 
the  body,  (ii)  as  the  meagre  gleanings  of  corn  which  might  be 
gathered  after  harvest  in  the  plain  of  Rephaim,  southwest  of 
Jerusalem,  and  (iii)  as  the  few  berries  left  upon  an  olive-tree  after 
its  branches  have  been  beaten.  Israel's  ruin  will  not  be  utter, 
like  Syria's,  but  very  nearly  so. 

128 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  17:10 


have  made,  either  the  Asherim,  or   the    sun- 
images. 
9.  In  that  day  shall  his  strong  cities  be 

As  the  forsaken  places  ^  in  the  wood  and  on  the 

mountain  top,  which  were  forsaken  before  the 

children  of  Israel ;  and  it  shall  be  a  desolation. 

10.  For  thou  hast  forgotten  the  God  of  thy  salvation, 

And  hast  not  been  mindful  of    the    rock   of   thy 

strength; 

1  m.  Gr.  of  the  AmorUes  and  the  Ernies. 

7,  8.  These  verses  do  not  perhaps  belong  to  the  original  poem, 
as  they  somewhat  interrupt  its  continuity,  and  interfere  with  its 
metrical  arrangement.  They  describe  the  effect  of  the  judgment 
upon  Israel  in  leading  mankind  (not  only  a  man,  i.e.  an  Israelite) 
to  a  reverent  regard  for  their  Creator,  and  to  a  complete  rejection 
of  idolatry.  To  a  Hebrew  prophet  hand-made  gods  were  con- 
temptible (cf.  the  scorn  in  40:20).  The  metre  suggests  that 
the  altars,  the  asherim,  and  the  sun-images  were  added  later  to 
explain  "  the  work  of  their  hands."  Without  these  words,  we 
have  two  well-balanced  lines. 

The  numerous  altars  are  rejected,  for,  at  the  time  when  this 
word  was  added,  only  the  one  altar  at  Jerusalem  was  regarded  as 
legitimate.  The  asherim  were  sacred  poles  —  probably  a  survival 
of  tree  worship  —  which  stood  beside  Canaanitish  altars  and  even 
beside  the  altars  of  Jehovah  (2  Kings  18:4;  23:6),  but  which  were 
finally  forbidden  in  the  Jehovah  worship  (Deut.  16 :  21).  The 
sun-pillars  point  to  the  worship  of  the  sun. 

9.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  instead  of  the  very  obscure 
text  at  the  beginning  of  this  verse,  we  should,  following  a  valuable 
hint  of  the  Greek  version,  read : 

In  that  day  shall  thy  cities  be  deserted 

Like  the  deserted  (cities)  of  the  Amorites  and  the  Hivites, 

i.e.  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Canaan  —  the  latter  part  of  the 
verse  (from  which)  being  regarded  as  an  explanatory  gloss.  Isaiah 
has  in  view  Israel's  devastation  at  the  hands  of  the  Assyrians. 

10  f.  Israel's  league  with  Syria,  besides  turning  her  away  from 
her  own  God,  brought  with  it  the  worship  of  the  Syrian  god  Adonis. 
But  this  worship,  however  sedulously  cultivated,  says  the  prophet, 
will  not  save  Israel  from  the  coming  disaster. 
K  129 


17:11  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Therefore  thou  plantest  ^  pleasant  plants, 
And  settest  it  with  ^  strange  slips  : 

11.  In  the  day  of  thy  planting  thou  hedgest  it  in, 

And  in  the  morning  thou  makest  thy  seed  to  blossom  : 
But  the  harvest  fleeth  away  in  the  day  of  grief 
And  of  desperate  sorrow. 

The  Speedy  Doom  of  the  Assyrians  (17  :  12-18 :  7) 
Their  Siddden  Destruction  (17  :  12-14) 

12.  Ah,  the  uproar  of  many  peoples, 

Which  roar  hke  the  roaring  of  the  seas ; 
And  the  rushing  of  nations, 

That  rush  hke  the  rushing  of  mighty  waters  ! 

1  m.  plantings  oj  Adonis  ;  Gr.  Vg.  a  faithless  plant.        2  m,  j,f,jg  slips  of  a  strange  god. 

Though  thou  plantest  Adonis  plants, 

And  dost  set  {thy  garden)  with  the  scions  of  a  stranger  {i.e.  strange 
god)  : 
Though  in  the  day  when  thou  plantest,  thou  makest  it  grow, 

And  in  the  morning  when  thou  sowest  thou  dost  bring  it  to  blossom; 
Yet  surely  the  harvest  shall  vanish  in  the  day  of  sickness, 

And  sorrow  incurable  {shall  be  thine). 

The  strange  god  (so  margin)  is  Adonis,  who  is  no  doubt  alluded  to  in 
the  word  pleasant  (vs.  10).  The  pleasant  plants  are  the  so-called 
"  Adonis  gardens,"  which  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  x\donis 
festivals  —  "  flower  pots  with  all  kinds  of  artificially  developed 
plants,  flowers,  etc.,  which  withered  as  quickly  as  they  had 
grown,"  and  which  were  therefore  an  apt  symbol  of  the  futility  of 
the  Syrian  alliance. 

17:  12-18:  7.  In  these  verses  are  two  short  oracles  (17:  12-14 
and  18 :  1-7)  connected  in  theme,  and  probably  produced  about 
the  same  time  —  between  705  and  701  B.C.,  when  Sennacherib 
and  his  Assyrians  were  becoming  an  ever  more  formidable  menace 
to  Judah.  Common  to  both  is  the  serenity  with  which  Isaiah  con- 
templates their  tumultuous  advance,  and  the  clearness  with  which 
he  foresees  and  foretells  their  doom. 

12.  This  is  a  very  spirited  passage.  Through  its  well-chosen 
Hebrew  words  one  vividly  hears  the  roar  of  the  sea,  to  which  is 

130 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  18:2 


13.  The  nations  shall  rush 

Like  the  rushing  of  many  waters  : 
But  he  shall  rebuke  them, 

And  they  shall  flee  far  off,  and  shall  be  chased 
As  the  chaff  of  the  mountains  before  the  wind, 

And  Uke  the  whirhng  dust  before  the  storm. 

14.  At  eventide  behold  terror  ; 

And  before  the  morning  they  are  not. 
This  is  the  portion  of  them  that  spoil  us, 
And  the  lot  of  them  that  rob  us. 

Isaiah'' s  Answer  to  the  Ethiopian  Ambassadors  (Chap.  18) 

18.  Ah,  the  land  of  ^  the  rusthng  of  wings. 

Which  is  beyond  the  rivers  of  Ethiopia  : 
2.  That  sendeth  ambassadors  by  the  sea. 

Even  in  vessels  of  papyrus  upon  the  waters,  saying^ 

1  Gr.  winged  boats. 

compared  the  tumult  of  the  many  and  mighty  nations  (as  we  should 
read  in  the  second  half  of  vs.  12)  that  went  to  make  up  the  Assyr- 
ian army. 

13  f.  Threshing  floors  were  often  set  upon  a  height  where  the 
wind  could  easily  bear  the  chaflf  away.  Terror  in  Jerusalem  be- 
cause of  the  Assyrian  army.  These  verses  describe  the  complete- 
ness and  the  suddenness  with  which  these  foreign  plunderers  and 
robbers  would  be  destroyed.     Cf.  37  :  36. 

18  :  1-7.  Ethiopia,  the  land  to  the  south  of  Egypt,  and  now  her 
mistress,  had  despatched  an  embassy  to  Jerusalem,  for  some  pur- 
pose which  is  not  definitely  stated,  but  which  had  no  doubt  to  do 
with  an  alliance  against  the  common  enemy  Assyria.  Isaiah 
implicitly  rejects  their  overtures  by  his  courteous  and  serene 
assurance  that  Jehovah  himself  would  speedily  seal  the  doom  of 
the  Assyrians. 

1.  Ethiopia  (modern  Nubia)  is  the  land  of  the  rustling  of  insect 
wings  —  probably  an  allusion  in  particular  to  the  tsetse-fly  in 
which  the  Nile  lands  abound.  It  is  vaguely  described  as  beyond 
the  rivers  of  Ethiopia,  i.e.  the  White  and  the  Blue  Nile. 

2.  By  the  sea  the  river  Nile  is  meant,  and  down  its  waters  the 

131 


i8:3  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Go,  ye  swift  messengers, 

To  a  nation  tall  and  smooth, 
To  a  people  terrible  from  their  beginning  onward  : 

A  nation  that  meteth  out  and  treadeth  down, 
Whose  land  the  rivers  divide  ! 

3.  All  ye  inhabitants  of  the  world,  and  ye  dwellers  on 

the  earth. 
When  an  ensign  is  Ufted  up  on  the  mountains,  see  ye ; 
And  when  the  trumpet  is  blown,  hear  ye. 

4.  For  thus  hath  the  Lord  said  unto  me, 

"  I  will  be  still,  and  I  will  behold  in  my  dwelHng  place ; 
Like  clear  heat  in  sunshine. 

Like  a  cloud  of  dew  in  the  ^  heat  of  harvest. 

1  Gr.  Vg.  SjT.  day. 

ambassadors  travel  in  swift  light  boats  made  of  papyrus.  The 
word  saying  (RV),  which  has  no  Hebrew  warrant,  obscures  the 
point  and  should  be  deleted.  In  reality,  Go  introduces  the  speech 
of  Isaiah  to  the  ambassadors,  now  arrived  at  Jerusalem.  The 
Ethiopians  are  described  by  the  prophet  in  comphmentary  terms 
as  tall  and  smooth,  or  rather  of  polished  bronze-like  skin,  dreaded 
near  and  far,  a  nation  of  strength  and  victory,  whose  land  the  Nile 
streams  divide.  They  are  known  to  have  been  remarkable  for 
their  beauty  and  stature  (the  obscure  words  of  the  last  half  of 
vs.  2  seem  best  rendered  as  above). 

3.  The  announcement  of  Jehovah's  impending  triumph  con- 
cerns not  only  Ethiopia,  but  the  whole  world.  Universal  attention 
will  be  called  to  it  by  the  rising  of  a  standard  and  the  blast  of  a 
trumpet  —  words  to  be  taken  not  literally  but  poetically,  as  sym- 
bols of  Jehovah's  sudden  and  victorious  intervention. 

Vss.  4-6  contain  the  real  message  —  especially  5  f . 

4.  The  majestic  confidence  with  which  Isaiah  awaits  and  fore- 
tells the  issue  is  but  a  reflex  of  the  serenity  with  which  his  God 
contemplates  it  all.  Jehovah  looks  quietly  on,  still  as  the  shim- 
mering heat  in  sunshine  when  the  glow  is  intense,  or  as  the  high 
motionless  dew-clouds  in  the  heat  of  harvest  —  two  pictures 
beautifully  suggestive  of  the  sublime  peace  of  Jehovah.  The 
words  Thus  Jehovah  said  to  me  apparently  indicate  that  this 

132 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


19:1 


5.  For  afore  the  harvest,  when  the  blossom  is  over, 

And  the  flower  becometh  a  ripening  grape. 
He  shall  cut  off  the  sprigs  with  pruning-hooks. 

And  the  spreading  branches  shall  he  take  away  and 
cut  down. 

6.  They  shall  be  left  together  unto  the  ravenous  birds  of 

the  mountains, 
And  to  the  beasts  of  the  earth  : 
And  the  ravenous  birds  shall  summer  upon  them. 
And  all  the  beasts  of  the  earth  shall  winter  upon 

them. 

7.  In  that  time  shall  a  present  be  brought  unto  the 
Lord  of  hosts  ^  of  a  people  tall  and  smooth,  and  from 
a  people  terrible  from  their  beginning  onward ;  a 
nation  that  meteth  out  and  treadeth  down,  whose  land 
the  rivers  divide,  to  the  place  of  the  name  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  the  mount  Zion. 

The  Destiny  of  Egypt  (Ch.  19) 
The  Disasters  of  Egypt  (19:  1-15) 
19.      The  1  burden  of  Egypt. 

1  Gr.  Vg.  from.        2  m.  oracle  coticerning. 

great  vision  and  message  of  peace  came  to  Isaiah  in  a  moment  of 
ecstasy. 

5.  The  doom  of  the  Assyrians  will  come  upon  them  as  an  im- 
mense surprise;  just  when  their  plans  are  ripe  for  execution,  they 
will  be  swiftly  and  terribly  frustrated.  The  figures  are  borrowed 
from  the  vintage ;  just  when  the  grapes  are  almost  ready  for 
gathering,  the  branches  will  be  hewn  mercilessly  down. 

6.  Figure  changes  to  fact.  The  number  of  Assyrian  slain  shall 
be  so  great  that  for  a  whole  summer  and  winter  wild  beasts  and 
birds  shall  feast  upon  them. 

7.  It  is  pretty  generally  acknowledged  that  this  vs.,  with  its 

133 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Behold,  the  Lord  rideth  upon  a  swift  cloud, 
And  Cometh  unto  Egypt : 
And  the  idols  of  Egypt  shall  be  moved  at  his  presence, 
And  the  heart  of  Egypt  shall  melt  in  the  midst 
of  it. 

2 .      And  I  will  stir  up  the  Egyptians  against  the  Egyptians: 
And  they  shall  fight  every  one  against  his  brother, 
And  every  one  against  his  neighbour ;  city  against 

city. 
And  kingdom  against  kingdom. 

repetitions  of  vs.  2,  is  much  later  than  Isaiah.  In  the  spirit  of  a 
later  age,  it  contemplates  the  "  latter  days  "  when  Ethiopia 
would  acknowledge  Israel's  God,  and  come  to  Jerusalem,  the  place 
of  his  name,  to  offer  him  gifts  of  homage  (cf.  Zeph.  3  :  10).  For 
"  of  a  people  "  read  "from  a  people." 

The  serenity  of  Isaiah  in  face  of  the  Assyrian  menace  recalls 
his  composure  on  a  former  occasion,  when  every  other  heart  was 
thrown  into  consternation  at  the  projected  invasion  of  Judah  by 
the  joint  forces  of  Israel  and  Syria  (7  :  1-7).  In  all  such  crises  his 
faith  "  estabhshes  "  him  (7  :  9). 

Chap.  19.  The  oracle  on  Egypt  appropriately  succeeds  that 
addressed  to  the  Ethiopians  (Chap.  18).  For  Egypt  the  doom  is 
announced  of  civil  war  and  oppression  at  the  hands  of  a  hard 
master.  With  these  political  calamities  are  associated  disasters 
of  another  kind  —  the  drying  up  of  the  Nile,  and  the  decay  of 
fishing  and  weaving;  and  all  the  ancient  and  famous  wisdom  of 
Egypt  shall  be  unable  to  cope  with  this  distress,  which  has  been  sent 
upon  her  by  the  God  of  Israel  (vss.  1-15).  In  their  terror,  how- 
ever, the  Egyptians  will  cry  to  this  God,  who  will  reveal  himself 
to  them,  and  be,  in  consequence,  honored  and  worshipped  on  Egyp- 
tian soil.  Then  Egypt  and  Assyria  will  unite  in  the  common  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah ;  a  triple  alliance  will  be  formed  between  Egypt, 
Assyria,  and  Israel,  and  they  shall  all  be  Jehovah's  fieople  (vss. 
16-25). 

Civil  War  and  Oppression  (vss.  1-4) 

1.  Jehovah  rides  on  a  storm  cloud  (as  in  Ps.  18 :  10)  to  Egypt, 
to  execute  his  will  upon  her  people ;  and  before  this  mighty  God 
the  idols,  or  impotent  gods  of  Egypt  quake,  and  the  people  share 
their  terror. 

2,  3.  Civil  war  breaks  out,  and  the  people  so  lose  head  and 

134 


THE   BOOK   OF  ISAIAH 


19:7 


3.  And  the  spirit  of  Egypt  shall  be  made  void  in  the  midst 

of  it; 
And  I  will  destroy  the  coimsel  thereof  : 
And  they  shall  seek  unto  the  idols,  and  to  the  charmers, 
And  to  them  that  have  famihar  spirits,  and  to  the 

wizards. 

4.  And  I  will  give  over  the  Egyptians 

Into  the  hand  of  a  cruel  lord ; 
And  a  fierce  king  shall  rule  over  them, 
Saith  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

5.  And  the  waters  shall  fail  from  the  sea, 

And  the  river  shall  be  wasted  and  become  dry. 

6.  And  the  rivers  shall  stink  ; 

The  streams  of  Egypt  shall  be  minished  and  dried 
up: 

The  reeds  and  flags  shall  wither  away. 

7.  1  The  meadows  by  the  Nile,  by  the  brink  of  the  Nile, 

1  Gr.  ail  the  green  recdgrass  round  about  the  river. 

heart  that  they  resort  to  occult  means  of  ascertaining  the  divine 
will  —  to  charmers,  i.e.  mutterers  of  magical  spells,  ghosts  and 
familiar  spirits  (cf.  8  :  19). 

4.  Finally,  a  prey  to  confusion  and  despair,  Egypt  comes  under 
the  domination  of  a  harsh  and  probably  foreign  master.  Who 
this  is,  will  depend  upon  our  view  of  the  date  and  origin  of  the 
prophecy  —  an  Assyrian  ruler,  Sargon  or  Sennacherib,  if  the  proph- 
ecy be  Isaiah's. 

The  Drying  up  of  the  Nile  and  the  Extinction  of  Fishing  and  Weaving 
(vss.  5-10) 

5,6.  By  the  sea  and  the  river  the  Nile  is  meant.  The  streams, 
lit.  Niles,  i.e.  arms  or  canals  of  the  Nile,  become  dry  :  reed  and 
rush  decay. 

7.  The  first  two  clauses,  which  are  obscure,  may  have  run  some- 
what as  follows  :   All  withered  are  the  reeds  by  the  banks  of  the  Nile. 

13s 


19:8  THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  all  that  is  sown  by  the  Nile, 
Shall  become  dry,  be  driven  away,  and  be  no  more. 

8.  The  fishers  also  shall  lament, 

And  all  they  that  cast  angle  into  the  Nile  shall  mourn, 
And  they  that  spread  nets 

Upon  the  waters  shall  languish. 

9.  Moreover  they  that  work  in  combed  flax, 

And  they  that  weave  white  cloth,  shall  be  ashamed. 

10.  And  her  pillars  shall  be  broken  in  pieces, 

1  All  they  that  work  for  hire  shall  be  grieved  in  soul. 

11.  The  princes  of  Zoan  are  utterly  foolish; 

The  counsel  of  the  wisest  counsellors  of  Pharaoh  is 
become  brutish : 
How  say  ye  unto  Pharaoh, 

"1  am  the  son  of  the  wise,  the  son  of  ancient  kings"  ? 

I  Cor.  1 :  20   12.  Where  then  are  thy  wise  men  ? 
And  let  them  tell  thee  now ; 

1  Gr.  all  that  make  beer. 

8  f.  There  was  fishing  both  by  hook  and  net ;  but  when  the  Nile 
is  dried  up  (vss.  5,  6),  there  can  be  no  more  fishing.  Other  in- 
dustries also  languish. 

10.  The  first  clause,  with  its  difiicult  pillars  or  foundations, 
should  perhaps  read : 

And  those  who  weave  it  {i.e.  the  flax)  are  broken  {in  heart). 

The  Helplessness  of  Egypt  (vss.   11-15) 

1 1  f .  Zoan,  a  great  and  ancient  city,  on  one  of  the  eastern  branches 
of  the  Nile.  The  wisdom  or  "  lore  of  the  many  past  centuries 
was  concentrated  in  the  priestly  class,  to  which  not  only  the  kings, 
but  the  principal  officers  of  the  state  belonged  "  (Cheyne) ;  but 
Pharaoh's  wisest  counsellors  have  been  a  silly  council.  Vs.  12  is  an 
ironical  address  to  Pharaoh.  For  "  let  them  know  "  read  "  let 
them  make  known  "  (so  the  Greek  version). 

136 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  19:17 


And  ^  let  them  know  what  the  Lord  of  hosts 
Hath  purposed  concerning  Egypt. 

13.  The  princes  of  Zoan  are  become  fools, 

The  princes  of  Noph  are  deceived ; 
They  have  caused  Egypt  to  go  astray, 
That  are  the  corner  stone  of  her  tribes. 

14.  The  Lord  hath  mingled  a  spirit 

Of  perverseness  in  the  midst  of  her ; 
And  they  have  caused  Egypt  to  go  astray  in  every 
work  thereof, 
As  a  drunken  man  ^  staggereth  in  his  vomit. 

15.  Neither  shall  there  be  for  Egypt  any  work. 

Which  head  or  tail,  palm-branch  or  rush,  may  do. 

The  Conversion  of  Egypt  (19 :  16-25) 

16.  In  that  day  shall  Egypt  be  like  unto  women :  and 
it  shall  tremble  and  fear  because  of  the  shaking  of  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  which  he  shaketh  over  it. 

17.  And  the  land  of  Judah  shall  become  a  terror  unto 

1  Gr.  Vg.  let  them  make  known.        2  m.  goeth  astray. 

13-15.  Noph,  i.e.  Memphis,  near  Cairo,  the  capital  of  lower 
Egypt.  The  cornerstone,  i.e.  chiefs,  rulers,  of  her  tribes,  i.e. 
the  nomes  or  districts  {  =  kingdoms  of  vs.  2)  into  which  Egypt  was 
divided,  have,  through  their  own  mental  confusion  and  perplexity, 
the  spirit  of  perverseness  or  giddiness  which  Jehovah  has  poured 
out  upon  them  —  led  Egypt  astray :  with  the  result  that  no  con- 
certed action  is  possible  (cf.  vs.  2).  Palm-branch  and  rush  = 
high  and  low  (cf.  9  :  14). 

Vss.  16,  17  mediate  the  transition  between  this  section  (vss. 
16-25)  and  the  last.  The  calamities  into  which  Egypt  has  been 
thrown  by  the  terrible  hand  of  Jehovah  inspire  in  Egypt  a  dread 
also  of  Judah,  Jehovah's  land,  and  the  way  is  prepared  for  Egypt's 
conversion,   through  her  submission  to  the  influence  of  Judah. 

137 


19:18  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Egypt,  every  one  to  whom  mention  is  made  thereof 
shall  be  afraid,  because  of  the  purpose  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  which  he  purposeth  against  it. 

In  that  day  there  shall  be  five  cities  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  that  speak  the  language  of  Canaan,  and  swear 
to  the  Lord  of  hosts ;   one  shall  be  called  The  city  of 


^  destruction. 


1  Heb.  heres  (  =  destruction?);  Gr.  tsedeq  (=righteousness).  Some  Heb.  MSS. 
read  heres  (=the  sun). 

This  submission  is  apparently  what  is  meant  by  Jehovah's  pixr- 
pose  in  vs.  17. 

A  series  of  brief  oracles  follows,  each  introduced  by  in  that  day. 

The  Hebrew  Religion  and  Language  in  Egypt  (vs.  18) 

Are  those  five  cities  which  are  to  speak  the  language  of  Canaan 
{i.e.  Hebrew)  Jewish  or  Egyptian  cities?  Apparently  Jewish; 
for,  considering  that  Jews  resident  in  foreign  countries  did  not 
always  themselves  speak  Hebrew  (cf.  Acts  2:5,  8,  9,  etc.),  and 
that  even  in  Egypt  most  of  them  spoke  Greek  (the  Septuagint 
being  written  to  meet  the  needs  of  Egyptian  Jews),  it  would  be 
too  much  to  expect  the  Egyptians  to  speak  Hebrew.  The  cities 
were  therefore  probably  Jewish  colonies,  whose  presence  naturally 
brought  the  Jewish  religion  —  the  worship  of  Jehovah  of  hosts  — 
with  all  its  possibilities,  very  close  to  the  Egyptians. 

One  of  these  cities  was  to  be  called  "  The  city  of  heres.'''  This, 
which  means  the  city  of  destruction,  would  be  a  strange  name  to 
apply  to  such  a  city,  unless  the  allusion  be  to  the  destruction  of 
Egyptian  idolatry.  The  Greek  version  calls  the  city  "  the  city  of 
tsedeq,''  of  righteousness ;  and  as  this  Hebrew  word  bears  Httle 
resemblance  to  heres,  the  question  may  be  fairly  raised  whether, 
for  some  reason,  a  change  has  not  been  deliberately  made.  The 
suspicion  that  the  original  word  was  in  some  way  felt  to  be  un- 
satisfactory is  confirmed  by  the  existence  of  another  reading,  pre- 
supposed by  some  ancient  witnesses  and  very  closely  resembling 
our  present  Hebrew  text,  viz.,  heres,  which  would  mean  "  the 
city  of  the  stcn,"  and  refer  no  doubt  toHeliopolis  (=0n,  Gen.  41 : 
50).  Possibly  this  is  the  original  reading,  altered  to  righteousness 
and  destruction  respectively  by  those  who  approved  or  disapproved 
of  the  temple  at  Leontopolis,  which  appears  to  be  alluded  to  in  the 
following  verse.     As,  however,  haris  is  in  Arabic  an  epithet  of 

138 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  19:22 


19.  In  that  day  shall  there  be  an  altar  to  the  Lord  m 
the  midst  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  a  pillar  at  the 

20.  border  thereof  to  the  Lord.  And  it  shall  be  for  a  sign 
and  for  a  witness  unto  the  Lord  of  hosts  in  the  land 
of  Egypt :  for  they  shall  cry  unto  the  Lord  because 
of  the  oppressors,  and  he  shall  send  them  a  saviour, 

21.  and  a  defender,  and  he  shall  deliver  them.  And  the 
Lord  shall  ^  be  known  to  Egypt,  and  the  Egyptians 
shall  know  the  Lord  in  that  day  ;  yea,  they  shall  wor- 
ship with  sacrifice  and  oblation,  and  shall  vow  a  vow 

22.  unto  the  Lord,  and  shall  perform  it.  And  the  Lord 
shall  smite  Egypt,  smiting  and  heahng  ;  and  they  shall 
return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  be  intreated  of 
them,  and  shall  heal  them. 

1  m.  make  himself  known. 

the  lion,  it  has  been  conjectured  with  some  plausibility  that  even 
in  this  verse  the  allusion  is  to  Leontopolis,  "  the  city  of  the  lion." 

The  Worship  of  Jehovah  by  the  Egyptians  (vss.  ig-22) 

19.  An  altar.  This  is  by  some  recent  scholars  regarded  as  a 
reference  to  the  Jewish  temple  at  Leontopolis,  built  by  Onias  IV 
in  160  B.C.  The  sacred  stone  erected  near  a  shrine  was  called 
pillar,  ht.  something  set  up.  Whether  this  is  intended  here,  or 
only  a  memorial  pillar,  perhaps  conceived  Hke  an  Egyptian  obe- 
lisk, its  place  at  the  border  is  significant,  suggesting  to  those  who 
cross  the  line  that  Jehovah  is  worshipped  in  Egypt. 

20.  Altar  and  pillar  are  a  sign  and  witness  that  Egypt  is  now 
Jehovah's  land,  and  that  her  people  can  claim  and  will  receive  his 
protection,  like  ancient  Israel  in  the  time  of  the  Judges ;  when  they 
cry  to  him,  he  will  send  them  a  saviour,  who  will  contend  (rather 
than  a  defender)  and  deliver  them. 

21.  Jehovah,  by  his  deliverance  of  them,  will  thus  make  himself 
known  to  the  Egyptians,  who  in  turn  will  acknowledge  him  in 
worship  which  will  take  the  form  of  ritual  service  —  sacrifice  of 
animals  and  bloodless  offerings  —  and  (perhaps  Nazirite)  vows. 

22.  When  he  smites  the  Egyptians,  it  will  be,  as  with  ancient 
Israel,  for  purposes  of  discipline ;  their  penitent  prayer  will  be 
answered  by  restoration. 

139 


19:23  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


23.  In  that  day  shall  there  be  a  high  way  out  of  Egypt 
to  Assyria,  and  the  Assyrian  shall  come  into  Egypt, 
and  the  Egyptian  into  Assyria ;  and  the  Egyptians 
shall  worship  with  the  Assyrians. 

24.  In  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and 
with  Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  earth : 

25.  for  that  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  blessed  them,  sa3dng. 
Blessed  be  Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of 
my  hands,  and  Israel  mine  inheritance. 

The  Triple  Alliance  (vss.  23-25) 

23.  Egypt  and  Assyria,  the  great  historical  enemies  of  Israel, 
are  now  conceived  as  united  in  the  common  service  of  Jehovah, 
Israel's  God ;  and  now  that  they  are  at  peace,  their  lands  are  con- 
nected by  a  common  highway. 

24  f .  Read :  In  the  midst  of  the  earth,  which  Jehovah  of  hosts  has 
blessed.  In  these  verses  we  have  one  of  the  most  generous  visions 
of  the  Old  Testament.  The  three  powers,  Egypt,  Assyria,  Israel 
—  representing  practically  the  whole  world  —  each  power  in  time 
past  frequently  hostile  to  the  other  two,  are  now  united  in  the 
bonds  of  peace,  and  of  a  common  worship,  and  over  all  three 
rests  the  blessing  of  Jehovah.  It  is  just  possible  that  even  here  a 
certain  uniqueness  is  implicitly  claimed  for  Israel  in  the  words 
mine  inheritance ;  but  this  can  hardly  be  pressed,  when  we  con- 
sider that  Egypt  is  to  be  called  my  people,  which  throughout  the 
Old  Testament  is  a  familiar  designation  for  Israel. 

The  difference  between  the  two  halves  into  which  this  chapter  is 
divided  is  very  striking.  It  affects  both  style  and  contents.  The 
first  half  is  in  verse,  and  is  continuous ;  the  second  in  prose,  and 
somewhat  broken.  The  attitude  to  the  Egyptians  is  much  more 
friendly  and  favorable  in  the  second  half  than  in  the  first ;  the 
first  anticipates  for  them  a  cruel  lord  (vs.  4),  the  second  a  saviour 
(vs.  20). 

The  very  definite  reference  in  vs.  18  to  Hebrew-speaking  cities 
in  Egypt,  and  the  specific  mention  of  one  of  them,  whether  the 
allusion  be  to  Heliopolis  or  Leontopolis,  would  seem  to  point 
to  post-exilic  days,  when  there  were  extensive  Jewish  colonies  in 
Egypt,  and  consequently  to  carry  us  to  an  age  much  later  than 
Isaiah's.  That  age  is  perhaps  definitely  fixed  by  vs.  19,  which 
can  be  very  naturally  explained  as  an  allusion  to  the  temple  at 
Leontopolis  built  in  160  b.c.      At    first,  indeed,  this  very  verse 

140 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  20:1 


Warning  against  the  Folly  of  an  Alliance  with 
Egypt  (20 : 1-6) 

20.      In  the  year  that  Tartan  came  unto  Ashdod,  when 
Sargon  the  king  of  Assyria  sent  him,  and  he  fought 

may  seem  to  tell  powerfully  in  favor  of  the  Isaianic  authorship,  as 
the  pillar  here  associated  with  Jehovah  was  proscribed  a  century 
after  Isaiah  by  the  Deuteronomic  law  (Deut.  12:3).  But  we 
know  that  the  Egyptian  Jews  were  not  so  strict  as  the  Palestinian  ; 
and  in  any  case,  the  temple  at  Leontopolis  must  itself  have  been 
an  offence  to  the  strict  Palestinian  Jews,  to  whom  the  Jerusalem 
temple  was  the  only  legitimate  sanctuary.  These  verses  seem 
therefore  to  justify  us  in  placing  the  whole  passage  (vss.  16-25) 
about  the  middle  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  about  five  and  a  half 
centuries  after  Isaiah's  time.  In  that  case  Assyria  would  stand 
for  Syria,  as  in  Ezra  6:  22  for  Persia  (cf.  Ezr.  9:9).  It  is  just 
possible,  after  all,  however,  that  the  passage  is  earlier,  as  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  there  were  Jewish  colonies  in  Egypt  in  the 
seventh  century  B.C. 

The  former  passage  (vss.  1-15),  however,  has  been  claimed  for 
Isaiah  by  some  who  are  willing  to  concede  the  post-exilic  author- 
ship of  vss.  16-25.  It  lacks,  however,  some  of  the  qualities  which 
we  should  expect  in  a  work  of  Isaiah's.  It  is  not  definitely  related 
to  any  historical  situation,  the  sin  of  Egypt  which  justifies  her 
punishment  is  not  made  clear,  and  the  style,  especially  of  yss.  5-10, 
is  somewhat  prolix.  Altogether,  the  Isaianic  authorship  of  vss. 
1-15  is  very  far  from  certain ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  temper  and 
attitude  of  the  passage  is  so  different  from  vss.  17-25  that  it  is 
very  probably  from  a  different,  and  earlier,  hand.  In  that  case, 
it  may  reflect  one  of  the  struggles  of  Egypt  with  Persia,  and  the 
cruel  lord  would  be  not  an  Assyrian,  but  a  Persian.  Where  the 
descriptions  are  so  general,  we  cannot  rise  above  conjecture. 

The  passage  vss.  18-25  exhibits  a  fine  consciousness  of  the  unique- 
ness of  the  Jewish  religion,  and  of  its  power  to  conquer  the  world. 
Through  Jewish  colonists,  it  finds  a  lodgment  in  Egypt,  and  wins 
the  Egyptians,  and  it  is  the  bond  that  binds  together  in  peace 
the  hostile  nations  of  the  world.  The  Jews  have  often  been  con- 
demned for  their  ungenerous  and  exclusively  national  outlook ; 
but  surely  such  a  criticism  finds  its  answer  and  rebuke  in  the 
wonderful  vision  of  the  triple  alliance  in  which  Israel  takes  her 
place  by  the  side  of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and  hears  the  divine 
blessing  pronounced  upon  those  once  hostile  and  heathen  nations 
no  less  than  upon  herself. 

20 :  1-6.  The   references   to  Egypt  in   this   chapter  (vss.  3-5) 

141 


2012  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  against  Ashdod  and  took  it;  at  that  time  the  Lord 
spake  by  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz,  saying,  Go,  and  loose 
the  sackcloth  from  off  thy  loins,  and  put  thy  shoe  from 
off  thy  foot.     And  he  did  so,  walking  naked  and  bare- 

3.  foot.  And  the  Lord  said.  Like  as  my  servant  Isaiah 
hath  walked  naked  and  barefoot  three  years  for  a  sign 

4.  and  a  wonder  upon  Egypt  and  upon  Ethiopia;  so 
shall  the  king  of  Assyria  lead  away  the  captives  of 
Egypt,  and  the  exiles  of  Ethiopia,  young  and  old, 
naked  and  barefoot,  and  with  buttocks  uncovered,  to 

5.  the  shame  of  Egypt.     And  they  shall  be  dismayed  and 


connect  it  naturally  with  the  last,  with  which,  however,  it  has 
nothing  to  do  chronologically.  Isaiah  indicates  here  in  symbolic 
prophecy  —  by  going  for  three  years  in  the  garb  of  a  captive, 
without  mantle  or  shoes  —  the  fate  of  captivity  in  store  for  the 
Egyptians  and  Ethiopians  at  the  hands  of  the  Assyrians.  His 
object  was  to  dissuade  the  people  of  Judah  from  entangling  them- 
selves in  an  Egyptian  aUiance. 

I.  Relying  upon  Ethiopia,  which  was  then  mistress  of  Egypt, 
Ashdod,  an  important  Philistine  city,  had  formed,  with  the  neigh- 
boring states,  including  Judah,  a  league  against  Assyria.  The 
Tartan  (the  official  title  for  the  Assyrian  commander-in-chief) 
besieged  and  captured  Ashdod  in  711  B.C.  Sargon  was  the  king  of 
Assyria  (722-705  B.C.)  who  destroyed  the  power  of  northern 
Israel  by  the  capture  of  Samaria  in  721. 

2-4.  Isaiah  symbolically  wears  the  garb  of  a  captive,  going 
barefoot  and  naked,  i.e.  in  his  undergarment  only  (cf.  Jn.  21 :  7). 
The  sackcloth,  which  he  put  off,  and  which  was  worn  as  a  sign  of 
mourning  (15  :  3),  was  no  doubt  the  coarse  hairy  mantle  worn  both 
in  earher  (2  Kings  i :  8)  and  later  times  (Zech.  13:4)  by  prophets. 
From  vs.  3  we  learn  that  he  had  gone  thus  for  three  years.  For  a 
man  of  Isaiah's  standing  thus  to  appear  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem 
must  have  been  provocative  of  many  questionings ;  to  which  the 
answer  was  this  —  that  he  did  it  for  a  sign  and  a  wonder  (cf .  8:18), 
and  as  the  servant  of  Jehovah,  whose  commission  he  was  in  this  act 
executing.  His  appearance  was  symbolic  of  the  fate  in  store  for 
Egypt  and  Ethiopia  at  the  hands  of  Assyria.  Perhaps  "  to  the 
shame  of  Egypt  "  should  be  omitted,  as  a  gloss  on  the  word 
"  buttocks." 

5,  6.  As  Egypt  had  been  impotent  to  save  Ashdod  from  Ass3'-ria, 

142 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  21:1 


ashamed,  because  of  Ethiopia  their  expectation,  and  of 
Egypt  their  glory.  And  the  inhabitant  of  this  coast- 
land  shall  say  in  that  day.  Behold,  such  is  our  expec- 
tation, whither  we  fled  for  help  to  be  delivered  from 
the  king  of  Assyria  :  and  we,  how  shall  we  escape  ? 


The  Fall  of  Babylon  (21 : 1-17) 

The  Fall  of  Babylon:  its  Consequences  for  J  udah  (21:  i-io) 

21.      The  ^  burden  of  the  wilderness  ^  of  the  sea. 
As  whirlwinds  in  the  South 
Sweep  through, 

1  m.  oracle  concerning.        2  Qr.  om.  of  the  sea. 

SO  she  would  prove  impotent  to  save  the  inhabitants  of  this  coast- 
land,  i.e.  in  general,  Palestine  —  Isaiah  is  thinking  more  particu- 
larly of  Judah,  and  indirectly  warning  her  against  an  alliance  with 
Egypt.  If  such  is  the  fate  of  Egypt,  "how  shall  we  escape  — 
we?  "  (emphatic).  They  of  vs.  5  are  the  people  of  the  coastland 
in  vs.  6.  As  it  happened,  Egypt  did  not  suffer  at  this  time  from 
Assyria  the  fate  which  Isaiah  had  anticipated  for  her;  neverthe- 
less his  message  was  effective,  as  Hezekiah  took  the  hint  and  re- 
sumed his  vassalage  to  Assyria. 

Chap.  21.  The  impending  fall  of  Babylon  must  have  been 
awaited  by  patriotic  Jews  with  the  most  intense  emotion.  In 
Chaps.  13  and  14  we  have  seen  one  poet,  in  anticipation  of  it, 
break  out  into  wild  strains  of  triumph.  This  poet  anticipates 
the  fall  of  the  city  in  a  more  neutral  spirit,  but  his  real  feelings 
shine  through  his  allusion  to  Israel  in  vs.  10  as  the  people  threshed 
and  trodden  upon  the  floor.  The  passage  must  fall  between 
Cyrus's  conquest  of  Media  in  549  B.C.  —  for  Medians  are  in  the 
invading  army  (vs.  2)  —  and  his  capture  of  Babylon  in  538.  It 
suggests  the  consequences  of  the  fall  of  Babylon  for  Judah, 
Edom,  and  the  desert  tribes  of  North  Arabia. 

I.  Fpr  the  burden,  etc.,  read  Oracle  on  the  Wilderness.  Wilder- 
ness, like  Arabia  in  vs.  13,  is  probably  simply  a  catchword  taken 
from  the  oracle  itself  (vs.  i),  and  the  word  rendered  by  the  sea 

143 


21 :  2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


It  Cometh  from  the  wilderness, 
From  a  terrible  land. 

2.  A  grievous  vision 

Is  declared  unto  me ; 
The  treacherous  dealer  dealeth  treacherously, 

And  the  spoiler  spoileth. 
"Go  up,  O  Elam; 

Besiege,  O  Media ; 
All  the  sighing  thereof 

Have  I  made  to  cease." 

3.  Therefore  are  my  loins 

Filled  mth  anguish ; 
Pangs  have  taken  hold  upon  me, 

As  the  pangs  of  a  woman  in  travail : 
I  am  pained  so  that  I  cannot  hear  ; 

I  am  dismayed  so  that  I  cannot  see. 

4.  My  heart  ^  panteth, 

Horror  hath  affrighted  me  : 

iHeb.  wandereth. 


may  be  a  mutilated  form  of  the  first  word  of  the  oracle ;  perhaps  — 
it  rages  like  storms  that  siveep  on  in  the  southland,  i.e.  the  dry  region 
to  the  south  of  Judah,  where  the  prophet  possibly  had  his  home 
(cf.  vs.  12).  It,  i.e.  the  noise  of  the  attack  on  Babylon,  comes 
from  the  wilderness  lying  between  Palestine  and  Babylon,  which 
is  here  described  as  the  terrible  land. 

2.  The  ecstasy  has  begun.  The  seer  hears  sounds  (vs.  i)  and 
sees  a  vision  of  Babylon  assailed  by  robbers  and  spoilers,  i.e.  the 
soldiers  of  Cyrus's  army,  from  Elam  (east  of  the  lower  Tigris  and 
north  of  the  Persian  gulf)  and  Media  (north  of  Elam).  The  last 
clause  of  the  vs.,  if  genuine,  must  be  conceived  as  spoken  by  Je- 
hovah, and  the  sighing  would  be  that  of  the  people  oppressed  by 
Babylon. 

3,  4.  These  vss.  graphically  describe  the  excitement  into  which 
the  seer  has  been  thrown  by  his  vision.     My  heart  (practically  = 

144 


THE   BOOK  OF   ISAIAH  21:8 


The  twilight  that  I  desired 
Hath  been  turned  into  trembling  unto  me. 

5.  They  prepare  the  table, 

They  ^  set  the  watch,  they  eat,  they  drink : 
Rise  up,  ye  princes, 
Anoint  the  shield. 

6.  For  thus  hath  the  Lord 

Said  unto  me, 
"Go,  set  a  watchman  ; 
Let  him  declare  what  he  seeth  : 

7.  And  when  he  seeth  ^  a  troop, 

Horsemen  in  pairs, 
A  troop  of  asses, 

A  troop  of  camels. 
He  shall  hearken  dihgently 

With  much  heed." 

8.  And  he  cried  as  a  Hon, 

"OLord,  I  stand 

1  m.  spread  the  carpets  ;  Gr.  om.        2  m.  chariot  or  chariots. 

my  head)  wanders.  The  twilight  that  I  desired,  i.e.  the  pleasant 
evening  hours  with  their  quiet  and  rest;  the  vision  came  in  the 
evening. 

5.  It  is  during  a  Babylonian  banquet,  as  at  Belshazzar's  feast 
in  Dan.  5,  that  the  seer  sees  the  attack  made,  and  hears  the  call  to 
the  effeminate  Babylonian  princes  to  rise  and  anoint  their  shields, 
i.e.  apparently  to  rub  the  leather  straps  with  oil,  so  as  not  to  cut 
the  arm.  For  they  set  the  watch,  read  with  the  margin,  they 
spread  the  carpets,  i.e.  for  reclining  on. 

6.  The  seer  is  in  ecstatic  mood,  and  the  watchman  or  spy  is 
himself,  his  other  or  ecstatic  self,  which  sees,  as  in  a  vision,  what  is 
going  on  in  distant  Babylon,  and  reports  to  the  seer's  proper  self. 

7.  The  vision  is  one  of  war  —  cavalry,  and  beasts  of  burden  to 
carry  off  the  prey. 

8.  9.  Perhaps  for  the  lion,  which  is  rather  irrelevant,  we  should 

L  145 


2119  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Continually  upon  the  watch-tower 

In  the  day-time, 
And  am  set  in  my  ward 

Whole  nights  "  : 
9.  And  behold,  here  cometh  a  troop  of  men, 

Horsemen  in  pairs. 
And  he  answered  and  said, 
Rev.  14 : 8  "  Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen  ; 

And  all  the  graven  images  of  her  gods 

Are  broken  unto  the  ground." 

10.  0  thou  my  threshing. 

And  the  ^  corn  of  my  floor  : 

That  which  I  have  heard 
From  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

The  God  of  Israel, 

Have  I  declared  unto  you. 

^  SV  grain.    Heb.  son. 


read  :  "  and  he  cried  :  /  see."  After  long  gazing,  he  at  length  sees 
the  warriors  and  knows  that  they  betoken  the  fall  of  Babylon. 
The  other  part  of  the  vision,  in  which  the  images  of  Babylon's 
gods  were  shivered  to  pieces,  was  not  fulfilled  ;  Cyrus  even  spoke  of 
himself  as  having  been  called  by  Marduk,  the  chief  god  of  Baby- 
lon. 

10.  This  vs.  hints  at  the  happy  consequences  for  the  Hebrew 
exiles  of  the  fall  of  Babylon.  What  the  seer  has  heard,  i.e.  the 
story  of  her  fall,  he  declares.  My  threshing  and  the  son  (cf. 
margin)  of  my  floor  is  a  pathetic  description  of  Judah,  which  has, 
as  it  were,  been  threshed  and  fiercely  trodden  upon  the  threshing 
floor  by  Babylon. 

This  passage  is  of  great  importance,  as  giving  us  a  rare  and  wel- 
come glimpse  into  the  phenomenon  of  ecstasy.  The  seer  wins  his 
vision  of  what  is  happening  in  distant  Babylon  through  a  sort  of 
second  sight.  He  has,  as  it  were,  two  personahties,  the  normal 
and  the  ecstatic :  the  latter  ''  spies  "  the  vision  and  brings  back 
word  to  the  former. 

146 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  21:13 


The  Fall  of  Babylon :  its  Consequences  for  the  Trading  Tribes 
of  the  Desert  (21 :  13-17) 

11.  The^  burden  of  Dumah. 

One  calleth  unto  me  out  of  Seir, 

''Watchman,  ^  what  of  the  night? 
Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ?  '* 

12.  The  watchman  said, 

"The  morning  cometh, 

And  also  the  night : 
If  ye  will  inquire,  inquire  ye  ; 

^  Turn  ye,  come." 

13.  The  ^  burden  upon  Arabia. 

In  the  forest  ^  in  Arabia  shall  ye  lodge, 
0  ye  travelling  companies  of  Dedanites. 

3  m.  oracle  concerning.  2  m,  ^/«j/  hour.  ^  ^a.  come  ye  again.  *  m.  oracle. 

6  Gr.  Tar.  Sjt:.  Vg.  in  the  evening. 

11.  For  the  burden  of  Dumah  read  perhaps  Oracle  on  Edom. 
This  oracle  probably  comes  from  the  same  seer  as  the  last ;  it 
makes  a  similar  distinction  between  the  ecstatic  personality,  here 
called  the  watchman,  vs.  12  (='spy,  vs.  6;  different  Hebrew 
words),  and  the  normal  personahty  (me,  vs.  11).  As  the  question 
comes  from  Seir,  i.e.,  Edom,  probably  Edom  should  be  read  for 
Dimiah.  The  question  is,  "  How  late  is  it  in  the  night?"  i.e. 
How  far  is  the  night  spent  —  the  night,  which  enwrapped  Edom,  as 
all  western  Asia,  of  subjection  to  the  Babylonians? 

12.  The  seer  has  as  yet  no  clear  answer  to  offer.  The  morning 
of  freedom  which  has  dawned  for  Edom  with  the  fall  of  Babylon 
may  be  followed  by  another  night,  through  the  rise  of  Persia  — 
he  is  not  sure;  and  in  his  uncertainty,  he  bids  his  questioner  con- 
sult him  again  later,  when  perhaps  his  vision  will  be  clearer. 

13.  For  the  burden  upon  Arabia  read  oracle  '^  in  the  steppe.'' 
The  phrase  in  the  steppe,  Uke  the  superscription  in  vs.  i,is  taken 
from  the  opening  words  of  the  oracle.  The  caravans  of  the 
Dedanites,  a  trading  tribe  of  northwestern  Arabia,  will,  in  the 
insecurity  attending  the  fall  of  Babj-lon  (cf  13  :  14  f.),  be  exposed 

147 


2i:i4  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


14.  Unto  him  that  ^  was  thirsty 

They  brought  water ; 
2  The  inhabitants  of  the  land  of  Tema 
Did  meet  the  fugitives  with  their  bread. 

15.  For  they  fled  away  from  the  swords, 

From  the  drawn  sword, 
And  from  the  bent  bow, 

And  from  the  grievousness  of  war. 

16.  For  thus  hath  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  Within  a 
year,  according  to  the  years  of  an  hirehng,  and  all  the 

17.  glory  of  Kedar  shall  fail :  and  the  residue  of  the  num- 
ber of  the  archers,  the  mighty  men  of  the  children 
of  Kedar,  shall  be  few  :  for  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel, 
hath  spoken  it. 

Judah's  Unpardonable  Sin  (22:  1-14) 

22.  The  ^  burden  of  the  valley  of  ^  vision. 

What  aileth  thee  now,  that  thou  art  wholly 

1  m.  is  thirsty,  bring  ye.        2  Qj-.  Tar.  Syr.  Vg.  ye  inhabitants  .  .  .  jneet.      ^  m.  oracle 
concerning.    *  Gr.  Zion. 

to  assault,  for  safety's  sake  they  will  have  to  leave  the  caravan 
routes,  and  lodge  in  the  hush,  in  the  steppe  or  wilderness  (as  we 
should  translate,  instead  of  in  Arabia). 

14,  15.  The  people  of  the  tribe  of  Tema  (south  of  the  Dedan- 
ites)  are  urged  to  bring  water  to  meet  the  thirsty  caravans,  and  to 
ofer  to  the  fugitives  the  bread  they  need  (imperative ;  so  the  Greek 
version) ;  they  have  fled  to  escape  an  attack.  Read  "  the  whetted 
sword." 

16,  17.  These  vss.  forcibly  recall  16:  13  f.  Kedar  appears  here 
to  be  a  general  designation  for  the  north  Arabian  tribes,  who  were 
skilled  in  the  use  of  the  bow  (cf.  Gen.  21  :  20). 

22:1-14.  This  very  striking  oracle,  though  appearing  in  the 
foreign  group  (Chaps.  13-27),  has  to  do  with  Jerusalem.  Before 
her  people,  who  are  for  the  moment  in  a  tumult  of  joy,  Isaiah 
appears  with  sorrow  in  his  heart  and  on  his  face,  and  solemnly 
announces  a  coming  day  of  doom  for  their  incurable  impenitence 

148 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  22 


Gone  up  to  the  housetops  ? 

2.  O  thou  that  art  full  of  shoutings,  a  tumultuous  city, 

A  joyous  town ; 
Thy  slain  are  not  slain  with  the  sword, 
Neither  are  they  dead  in  battle. 

3.  All  thy  rulers  fled  away  together, 

They  were  bound  ^  by  the  archers  : 
All  that  were  found  of  thee  were  bound  together, 
They  fled  afar  off. 

4.  Therefore  said  I,  "Look  away  from  me. 


1  m.  without  the  how ;  Gr.  cruelly. 


and  frivolity.  The  occasion  was  probably  the  departure  of  the 
Assyrians  from  Jerusalem  —  a  departure  which  Hezekiah  had 
purchased  from  Sennacherib,  who  was  blockading  Jerusalem  after 
having  already  captured  forty-six  cities  of  Judah,  by  the  payment 
of  a  very  heavy  tribute  (cf.  2  Kings  18:  13-16).  From  the  roofs 
of  their  houses  (vs.  i)  the  people  are  gleefully  watching  the  depart- 
ing foe,  and  celebrating  their  ignominious  deliverance  with  riotous 
merriment  (vs.  13),  when  Isaiah  hurls  among  them  his  terrible 
threat  of  doom  (vs.  14). 

The  Prophet's  Vision  of  Doom  (vss.   1-5) 

I.  Oracle  on  the  Valley  of  Vision  —  a  title  suggested  by  vs.  5. 
Clearly  one  of  the  valleys  near  Jerusalem  is  meant  (Gr.  reads 
valley  of  Zion)  —  perhaps  once  the  site  of  an  ancient  oracle.  The 
reading  "  Valley  of  Hinnom  "  has  been  suggested. 

2  f.  Isaiah  is  astonished  and  vexed  at  the  tumultuous  joy  of  the 
people,  who  are  assembled  on  the  flat  roofs  of  their  houses;  and 
in  vision  he  sees  another  day,  when  the  city  will  be  taken,  "  the 
defenceless  citizens  cut  down,  and  the  magnates,  who  have  vainly 
sought  to  flee  (cf.  2  Kings  25 :  4-7)  are  captured  "  (Cheyne). 
They  die,  not  in  battle,  but  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner.  Per- 
haps the  verse  should  read  somewhat  as  follows  : 

All  thy  captains  are  fled, 

They  that  wielded  the  bow, 
All  thy  strong  men  are  taken, 

Though  they  fled  far  away. 

4,  5.  Isaiah's  gaze  is  on  the  terrible  day  that  is  coming  (vs.  5), 
the  thought  of  which  throws  him  into  bitter  and  inconsolable 

149 


22:5  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  will  weep  bitterly ; 
Labour  not  to  comfort  me 

For  the  spoiling  of  the  daughter  of  my  people. 

5.  For  it  is  a  day  of  discomfiture,  and  of  treading  down, 

and  of  perplexity, 
From  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
In  the  valley  of  vision;  a  breaking  down  of  the  walls, 
And  a  crying  to  the  mountains. 

6.  And  Elam  bare  the  quiver. 

With  chariots  of  men,  and  horsemen ; 
And  Kir  uncovered  the  shield. 

7.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  thy  choicest  valleys  were 

full  of  chariots. 
And  the  horsemen  set  themselves  in  array  at  the  gate. 

8.  And  he  took  away  the  covering  of  Judah  ; 

And  thou  didst  look  in  that  day  to  the  armour  in  the 
house  of  the  forest. 

9.  And  ye  saw  the  breaches  in  the  city  of  David,  that 

they  were  many:  and  ye  gathered  together  the 


sorrow.     He    hears    in    imagination    the    enemy's    wild    war-cry 
resounding  to  the  mountains. 

The  Siege  of  Jerusalem  (vss.  6-1 1) 

In  this  passage,  Isaiah  looks  back  to  the  blockade  which  has 
just  been  raised,  and  to  the  city's  preparations  to  meet  it. 

6,  7.  Elam  and  Kir  are  contingents  of  the  Assyrian  army. 
Elam  bore  the  quiver  on  chariots  with  horses,  and  Kir  uncovered 
the  shield,  i.e.  from  its  leathern  case.  In  vs.  7,  omit  it  came  to 
pass  that. 

8.  The  first  clause,  which  is  very  obscure,  may  refer  to  Sennach- 
erib's capture  of  the  other  cities  of  Judah,  whose  defensive  cover- 
ing was  removed  by  their  capture.  The  house  of  the  forest,  i.e. 
of  Lebanon  (i  Kings  7  :  2  f.),  so-called  from  its  cedar  pillars, 
formed  part  of  the  palace  at  Jerusalem,  and  served  in  part  the 
purpose  of  an  armory  (i  Kings  10:  17). 

9-1 1.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  details  of  the  defence 
ISO 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  22 :  13 


10.  waters  of  the  lower  pool.  And  ye  numbered 
the  houses  of  Jerusalem,  and  ye  brake  down 

11.  the  houses  to  fortify  the  wall.  Ye  made  also 
a  reservoir  between  the  two  walls  for  the  water 
of  the  old  pool : 

But  ye  looked  not  unto  him  that  had  done  this, 
Neither  had  ye  respect  unto  him  that  fashioned  it 
long  ago. 

12.  And  in  that  day  did  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts,  call, 

To  weeping,  and  to  mourning,  and  to  baldness,  and 
to  girding  with  sackcloth  : 

13.  And  behold,  joy  and  gladness. 

Slaying  oxen  and  killing  sheep, 
Eating  flesh  and  drinking  wine  : 

"Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  shall  die." 


measures  in  vss.  gb-iia  are  not  from  the  hand  of  Isaiah,  though 
they  must  have  been  added  by  some  one  famiUar  with  Hezekiah's 
arrangements  (cf.  2  Kings  20:20;  2  Chr.  32:2-5).  The  water 
supply  of  Jerusalem  was  poor,  and  the  prospect  of  a  siege  made  this 
defect  felt  with  double  keenness  (cf.  Isa.  7:  3).  The  material  of 
the  demolished  houses  was  used  to  strengthen  the  wall.  Vs.  iib, 
read  after  ga,  is  very  striking : 

Ye  looked  to  the  armor  in  the  House  of  the  Forest, 
And  ye  saw  that  the  breaches  in  David's  city  were  many: 

But  ye  did  not  look  to  him  who  was  doing  all  this. 
And  him  who  fashioned  it  long  ago,  ye  saw  not. 

The  look  and  see  of  the  first  couplet,  repeated  as  they  are  in  the 
second,  make  a  very  effective  contrast.  The  people  have  eyes 
for  the  material,  but  none  for  the  spiritual ;  they  depend  upon  their 
armor,  and  forget  their  God  —  rely  upon  their  own  prudent 
measures  and  material  resources,  and  ignore  the  greatest  Factor 
of  all,  the  Lord  of  history,  who,  through  all  that  happens,  is  work- 
ing out  his  eternal  purpose.     This  is  the  sublimest  of  all  follies. 

12  f.  The  desperate  experience  through  which  the  people  had 
just  passed  was  in  reality  —  had  they  had  the  eyes  to  see  it  (vs.  11) 
—  a  divine  call  to  humiliation  ;  the  customs  alluded  to  are  mourn- 
ing customs  (cf.  15  :  2  f.).     Instead  of  this,  however,  the  people, 

151 


22 :  14  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


14.  And  ^  the  Lord  of  hosts  revealed  hnnself  in  mme  ear, 

Surely  this  iniquity  shall  not  be  ^  purged  from  you  till 
ye  die, 
^  Saith  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

Personal  Threats  and  Promises  (22  :  15-25) 

The  Dooffi  of  Shebna  (22  :  15-18) 

15.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts, 

"  Go,  get  thee  unto  this  ^  treasurer,  even  unto  Shebna, 
which  is  over  the  house,  and  say, 


1  Gr.  tlwse  things  have  been  revealed  in  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  hosts.     -  m.  expiated  by. 
3  Gr.  om.  this  line.        *  m.  steward. 


with  their  incurable  frivolity,  abandoned  themselves  to  revelry 
and  met  with  scorn  the  prophet's  solemn  words  of  warning  —  "  let 
us  eat  and  drink,  if  tomorrow,  as  you  say,  we  are  to  die." 

14.  "  You  shall  die,"  retorts  the  prophet.  Their  levity  is 
unpardonable,  it  must  be  punished  with  death;  and  this  awful 
threat  of  doom  is  a  direct  revelation,  whispered  as  it  were  into 
Isaiah's  ear  by  God  himself. 

Even  for  Isaiah,  this  is  a  remarkably  graphic  and  powerful 
passage ;  the  city  blockaded  by  foreign  soldiery,  the  desperate 
measures  of  defence  in  which  everything  was  remembered  but 
God ;  and  then  —  after  peace  has  been  purchased  by  a  heavy 
bribe  —  the  roofs  crowded  with  tumultuous  merry-makers,  and 
the  prophet  with  his  sorrowful  face  and  his  eyes  fixed  upon  a  coming 
day  of  doom.  The  unpardonable  sin  of  Jerusalem  was  frivolity  — 
that  shallow  temper  which  no  humiliation  could  sober. 

22:15-25.  A  high  official,  named  Shebna,  apparently  a  for- 
eigner, is  threatened  b}^  Isaiah  with  the  doom  of  exile  (vss.  15-18). 
This  threat  is  followed  by  a  promise  of  unique  authority  to  be 
conferred  upon  EHakim  (vss.  19-23),  —  a  promise  to  which  is 
appended  a  forecast  of  the  ruin  of  his  family  (vss.  24  f.). 

15  f.  For  Even  unto  Shebna,  which  is  over  the  house,  read 
Against  Shebna,  the  governor  oj  the  palace.  This  is  no  doubt  the 
title  of  the  oracle,  accidentally  transposed  to  the  end  of  the  vs. 
Shebna  is  contemptuously  called  that  official  (steward,  cf.  margin, 
rather  than  treasurer).     Isaiah's  stern  words  have  suggested  to 

152 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


1 6.  'What  doest  thou  here?  and  whom  hast  thou  here, 

That  thou  hast  hewed  thee  out  here  a  sepulchre?' 
Hewing  him  out  a  sepulchre  on  high, 

Graving  an  habitation  for  himself  in  the  rock  ! 

17.  Behold,  the  Lord  will  hurl  thee  violently  away 

^  As  a  strong  man  ;  yea,  he  will  wrap  thee  up  closely. 

18.  He  will  surely  ^turn  and  toss  thee 

Like  a  ball  into  a  large  country ; 
There  shalt  thou  die,  and  there  shall  be  the  chariots 
of  thy  glory. 
Thou  shame  of  thy  lord's  house. 

The  Exaltation  of  Eliakim  (22  :  19-23) 

19.  And  I  will  thrust  thee  from  thine  office, 

And  from  thy  station  shall  ^  he  pull  thee  down. 

20.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 

That  I  will  call  my  servant  Eliakim  the  son  of 
Hilkiah : 


1  m.  0  thou  strong  man,  he  will  lay  fast  hold  on  thee.        2  m.  wind  tliee  round  and 
round  like  a  hall  and  toss  thee.        ^  Syr.  Vg.  /. 


some  that  Shebna  championed  the  policy  of  an  Egyptian  alliance, 
denounced  by  the  prophet  (31:1  ff.).  In  any  case,  Isaiah  was 
provoked,  partly  by  the  sight  of  his  splendid  chariots,  but  much 
more  by  his  pride  in  preparing  for  himself  a  sepulchre  here  on 
high,  in  some  conspicuous  place  on  Zion,  probably  among  the 
sepulchres  of  the  nobility  —  he,  a  foreigner,  who  had  no  right  and 
no  kindred  in  Jerusalem. 

1 7  f .  His  fate  will  be  exile  —  to  be  taken  like  a  ball,  and  hurled 
into  the  broad  land  of  Assyria,  there  to  die. 

19.  Exile  involved,  of  course,  deposition  from  office.  Read 
"/  will  pull  thee  down." 

20-22.  The  change  of  officials  no  doubt  implied  a  change  of 
poHcy.  EHakim  is  spoken  of  in  enthusiastic  terms  as  Jehovah's 
servant  (hke  Isaiah  himself,  20:  3),  and  father  (Hke  Joseph,  Gen. 
45  :8),  i.e.  beneficent  ruler,  of  the  people.     He  will  wear  the  official 

153 


22  121  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


21.  And  I  will  clothe  him  with  thy  robe, 

And  strengthen  him  with  thy  girdle, 
And  I  will  commit  thy  government  into  his  hand  : 
And  he  shall  be  a  father  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jeru- 
salem and  to  the  house  of  Judah. 

22.  And  the  key  of  the  house  of  David 

Will  I  lay  upon  his  shoulder  ; 
Rev.  3 : 7  And  he  shall  open,  and  none  shall  shut ; 

And  he  shall  shut,  and  none  shall  open. 

23.  And  I  will  fasten  him  as  a  nail  in  a  sure  place ; 

And  he  shall  be  for  a  throne  of  glory  to  his  father's 
house. 

The  Downfall  of  Eliakim^s  Family  (22:  24  f.) 

24.  And  they  shall  hang  upon  him  all  the  glory  of  his 
father's  house,  ^  the  offspring  and  the  issue,  every 
small  vessel,  from  the  vessels  of  cups  even  to  all  the 

1  For  the  rest  of  the  vs.  Gr.  reads  simply  small  and  great. 

robe  and  girdle.  Over  his  shoulder  is  laid  the  large  Oriental  key, 
which,  with  its  power  to  open  or  close,  is  a  fit  symbol  of  absolute 
authority  (cf.  9:6;  Mat.  16:19).  In  36 :  3 ;  37:2,  Eliakim  is 
mentioned  as  governor  of  the  palace,  and  as  taking  precedence  of 
Shebna. 

23.  The  firmly  driven  nail  or  tent-peg  implies  the  permanence  of 
his  position,  in  contrast  to  Shebna  (cf.  Ezr.  9:8);  and  through 
him  his  family  would  reach  posts  of  honor. 

24  f.  Rather  to  our  surprise,  these  verses  predict  ruin  for  the 
family  so  generously  spoken  of  in  vs.  23.  They  will  hang  upon  the 
nail  (cf,  vs.  23)  —  like  vessels  (cups  or  howls  and  pitchers  they  are 
contemptuously  called)  on  a  kitchen  wall  —  and  when  the  nail 
gives  way,  down  they  will  come  with  a  crash. 

These  verses,  which  contradict  the  spirit  of  the  last  oracle,  were 
apparently  added  later  by  some  one  hostile  to  Eliakim's  family. 

Chap.  23.  This  oracle  concludes  the  series  upon  the  foreign 
nations.  As  a  sailor  people,  whose  ships  were  upon  every  known 
sea,  the  Phoenicians  occupied  a  conspicuous  place  as  the  middle- 
men of  the  ancient  world.     This  poem,  which  describes  Phoenicia's 

IS4 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  23 :  I 


25.  vessels  of  flagons.  In  that  day,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  shall  the  nail  that  was  fastened  in  a  sure  place 
give  way ;  and  it  shall  be  hewn  down,  and  fall,  and 
the  burden  that  was  upon  it  shall  be  cut  off ;  for  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

The  Fate  of  Phcenicia  (Chap.  23) 

The  Elegy  (23  :  1-14) 

23.      The  1  burden  of  Tyre. 

Howl,  ye  ships  of  "  Tarshish ;   for  it  is  laid  waste, 
^  So  that  there  is  no  house,  no  entering  in  : 

1  m.  oracle  concerning.        ^  Gr.  Carthage.        *  Gr.  om. 

fall,  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  her  commerce,  her  power,  and  her 
pride.  She  is  the  incarnation  of  the  purely  commercial  spirit, 
untouched  and  unrestrained  by  religion,  and  naturally  therefore 
falls  under  the  prophetic  condemnation.  The  closing  verses 
(15-18)  look  out  upon  a  time  in  which  the  gains  from  Tyrian 
commerce  will  be  made  contributory  to  the  welfare  of  Jerusalem. 
23  :  1-14.  In  form  this  is  an  elegy  —  rather  than  a  prophecy  — 
upon  the  fall  of  Sidon  (vss.  2,  4,  12),  or  it  may  be  Tyre  (vs.  8). 
More  than  once  in  Isaiah's  time  was  Phoenicia  ravaged  by  the 
Assyrians,  and  the  elegy  may  be  his;  it  has  also  been  referred, 
however,  to  Nebuchadrezzar's  siege  of  Tyre  (586-573  B.C.,  cf. 
Ezek.  26-28),  and  even  to  the  destruction  of  Sidon  by  the  Per- 
sians in  348  B.  c.  Whatever  be  its  origin,  the  poem  is  a  striking 
description  of  the  fall  of  a  great  naval  power. 

The  Call  to  Lament  (vss.   1-5) 

1-3.  Ships  of  Tarshish,  cf.  2  :  16.  For  several  reasons,  the 
following  verses  seem  to  need  slight  emendation.  Read  perhaps : 
for  your  haven  (or  stronghold)  is  laid  waste:  on  the  way  hack  (to 
Phoenicia)  from  the  land  of  Chittim  (i.e.  Cyprus)  it  (i.e.  the  news 
of  the  destruction)  has  been  revealed  to  themyperh.a.ps  by  ships  which 
they  met  on  the  way.  Perished  are  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast- 
land,  the  merchants  of  Sidon,  who  crossed  the  sea,  whose  messengers 
were  upon  many  waters  (cf.  Ps.  107  :  23),  whose  harvest  was  the  seed 
(i.e.  wheat)  of  Shihor  (i.e.  the  Nile;  Jer.  2  :  18),  and  whose  revenue 


23:2 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


From  the  land  of  Kittim 
It  is  revealed  unto  them. 

2.  Be  still,  ye  inhabitants  of  the  isle; 

Thou  whom  the  merchants  of  Zidon, 
That  pass  over  the  sea,  have  replenished. 

3.  And  on  great  waters  the  seed  of  Shihor, 
The  harvest  ^  of  the  Nile,  was  her  revenue ; 

And  she  was  the  mart  of  nations. 

4.  Be  ashamed,  O  Zidon ;   for  the  sea  hath  spoken,  the 

stronghold  of  the  sea,  saying, 
"1  have  not  travailed,  nor  brought  forth, 
Neither  have  I  nourished  young  men, 
Nor  brought  up  virgins." 

5.  When  the  report  cometh  to  Eg3^t,  they  shall  be  sorely 
pained  at  the  report  of  Tyre. 

6.  Pass  ye  over  to  Tarshish  ;  howl. 

Ye  inhabitants  of  the  isle. 

7.  Is  this  your  joyous  city, 

Whose  antiquity  is  of  ancient  days, 
Whose  feet  carried  her 
Afar  off  to  sojourn  ? 

1  Gr.  om. 

was  the  traffic  of  nations.     The  world's  commerce  was  carried  on 
Phoenician  ships. 

4  f .  Vs.  4  (omit  the  stronghold  of  the  sea)  finely  pictures  the  sea  as 
a  childless  mother  (cf.  i  :  2)  now  that  Phoenicia  is  ruined,  and  her 
sons  sail  the  seas  no  more.  Vs.  5,  perhaps  late,  represents  Egypt 
as  terrified  by  the  fall  of  Tyre  —  her  turn  is  coming  next. 

The  Call  to  Flight  (vss.  6-9) 

6  f.  The  Phoenicians  are  urged  to  flee  to  Tarshish,  a  colony  ol 
theirs  in  Spain,  now  that  their  happy  ancient  city  is  ruined,  the 
city  whose  merchants  were  wont  to  sojourn,  i.e.  settle,  in  distant 
lands. 

156 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  23:12 


8.  Who  hath  purposed  this 

Against  Tyre,  the  crowning  cityj 
Whose  merchants  are  princes,  Rev.  18 :  23 

Whose  traffickers  are  the  honourable  of  the  earth  ? 

9.  The  Lord  of  hosts  both  purposed  it, 

To  stain  the  pride  of  all  glory. 
To  bring  into  contempt 
All  the  honourable  of  the  earth. 

10.  ^  Pass  through  thy  land  ^  as  the  Nile,  O  daughter  of 

Tarshish ; 
There  is  no  girdle  about  thee  any  more. 

11.  He  hath  stretched  out  his  hand  over  the  sea, 

He  hath  shaken  the  kingdoms  ; 
The    Lord    hath    given    commandment    concerning 
Canaan, 
To  destroy  the  strongholds  thereof. 

12.  And  he  said,  "Thou  shalt  no  more  rejoice, 

O  thou  oppressed  virgin  daughter  of  ^  Zidon  : 
Arise,  pass  over  to  Kittim  ; 

Even  there  shalt  thou  have  no  rest. 

I  Gr.  cultivate.        2  Gr.  om.        ^  Some  MSS.  read  Zion. 

8  f.  The  ruin  of  Phoenicia  is  in  accordance  with  the  purpose  of 
Jehovah,  to  whom  pride  is  detestable.  Tyre  is  the  bestower  of 
crowns  (so  SV),  appointing  petty  kings  in  her  subject  colonies ;  or 
perhaps  the  word  means  the  crowned  (queen). 

The  Ruin  of  Phcenicia  (vss.   10-14) 

10.  For  this  verse,  whose  opening  words  are  obscure,  and  per- 
haps but  repeat,  with  modification,  the  closing  words  of  vs.  9, 
Duhm  cleverly  suggests :  Weep,  ye  ships  of  Tarshish  (cf.  vs.  14) : 
no  harbor  have  ye  any  more. 

II  f.  He,  i.e.  Jehovah  (cf.  vs.  9).  Canaan,  i.e.  Phcenicia. 
Even  if  she  fled  to  her  own  colonies,  Kittim,  i.e.  Cyprus,  she  would 
find  no  rest. 

157 


23 :  13  THE  BOOK  OF  ISx\IAH 


13.  Behold,  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans ;    this  people   is 

no  more ;  the  Assyrian  hath  appointed  it  for  the 
beasts  of  the  wilderness  :  they  set  up  their  towers, 
they  overthrew  the  palaces  thereof ; 
He  made  it  a  ruin. 

14.  Howl,  ye  ships  of  Tarshish  : 

For  your  stronghold  is  laid  waste. 

The  Revival  of  Tyre  (23  :  15-18) 

15.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  Tyre 
shall  be  forgotten  seventy  years,  according  to  the  days 
of  one  king  :  after  the  end  of  seventy  years  it  shall  be 
unto  Tyre  as  in  the  song  of  the  harlot : 

16.  Take  an  harp. 

Go  about  the  city, 

Thou  harlot  that  hast  been  forgotten ; 

Make  sweet  melody, 

Sing  many  songs. 

That  thou  mayest  be  remembered. 

13.  Of  this  desperate  verse,  Duhm's  explanation  seems  best  — 
that  it  originally  ran :  Behold  the  land  of  Kitiim  {i.e.  Cyprus, 
the  land  to  which  they  flee),  he  {i.e.  Jehovah)  has  made  it  a  ruin  — 
the  intervening  words  being  a  gloss  to  be  rendered  as  follows : 
this  is  the  people  that  (in  Hebrew  the  word  which  is  very  like  the 
word  for  Assyrian)  was  founded  by  the  seafarers,  they  erected  its 
watchtowers,  cities,  and  palaces. 

14.  The  elegy  ends  as  it  began. 

15.  Seventy  years,  a  round  number,  suggested  by  Jer.  25:  11. 
One  king,  i.e.  one  dynasty  (Exod.  1:8).  Tyre  shall  fare  as  the 
harlot  in  the  song. 

16.  The  song  is  thus  happily  rendered  by  G.  H.  Box : 

Seize  lyre  —  walk  up  and  down  the  street, 

O  Harlot,  by  the  world  forgot! 
Twang  well  —  sing  many  a  ditty  sweet 

To  win  a  last  forget-tne-not ! 

158 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


17.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  after  the  end  of  seventy 
years,  that  the  Lord  will  visit  Tyre,  and  she  shall 
return  to  her  hire,  and  shall  play  the  harlot  with  all 

the  kingdoms  of  the  world  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  Rev.  17 : 2 

18.  And  her  merchandise  and  her  hire  shall  be  holiness 
to  the  Lord  :  it  shall  not  be  treasured  nor  laid  up ; 
for  her  merchandise  shall  be  for  them  that  dwell  before 
the  Lord,  to  eat  sufficiently,  and  for  durable  clothing. 


1 7  f .  The  metaphor  of  vss.  1 5  f .  is  maintained  —  Tyre's  commerce 
is  described  as  intercourse  with  the  nations;  and  the  proceeds  of 
it,  unlike  those  of  the  women  dedicated  to  immorality  (Deut. 
23  :  18),  are  to  be  consecrated  to  Jehovah  —  in  other  words,  are  to 
be  devoted  to  supplying  the  needs  of  the  Jews,  those  who  dwell 
before  Jehovah,  securing  for  them  ample  food  and  stately  cloth- 
ing (cf.  60:  11).  This  view  of  the  heathen  as  the  slaves  of  the 
Jews  is  characteristic  of  post-exilic  Judaism  (61 :  5). 


159 


THE  GREAT  WORLD  JUDGMENT  (Chaps.  24-27) 

The  Judgment  :    the  Rebels  Punished  (Chap.  24) 

24 : 1         24.  Behold,  the  Lord  maketh  the  earth  empty,  and  maketh 
it  waste, 
And  turneth  it  upside  down,  and  scattereth  abroad 
the  inhabitants  thereof. 


Chaps.  24-27.  These  four  remarkable  chapters  are  unique  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Roughly  speaking  they  are  a  prophetic,  or  rather 
apocalyptic,  description  —  interrupted  by  a  few  songs  of  praise  — 
of  the  great  impending  day  of  Jehovah,  when  the  world  will  be 
convulsed,  but  the  Jews  will  be  saved  and  gathered  to  Zion.  The 
songs  (25  :  1-5  ;  25:9-11;  26:1-19;  27:2-6;  27  :  7-1 1)  chiefly 
celebrate  the  overthrow  of  some  important  city  (cf.  25:2;  26 :  5) 
or  describe  the  care  with  which  Jehovah  watches  over  Israel 
(27  :  2).  When  these  lyrics  are  removed,  there  is  a  more  or  less 
continuous  prophecy,  which  runs  briefly  thus :  The  world  is  about 
to  be  convulsed  by  reason  of  the  heavy  load  of  sin  that  lies  upon 
it :  in  that  day  Jehovah  will  punish  the  rebellious  powers  in  earth 
and  heaven  and  assume  sovereignty  himself  on  Zion  (Chap.  24), 
where  for  the  sorrowing  nations  a  royal  banquet  will  be  spread 
(25  :  6-8).  In  the  judgment,  Jehovah's  own  people  will  be  pre- 
served (26 :  20-27  :  i)  and  at  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  they  shall 
come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  worship  their  God  on  Zion 
(27:  12  f.). 

The  whole  tone  of  the  prophecy  and  the  reference  to  a  resurrec- 
tion in  26  :  19  point  to  a  date  long  after  the  age  of  Isaiah.  Doubt- 
less the  picture  of  the  world  reeling  and  convulsed  in  judgment  was 
suggested  by  some  definite  historical  situation,  when  gloom  and 
confusion  reigned.  The  allusions  are  too  veiled  to  enable  us  to 
date  the  prophecy,  but  it  has  been  placed  with  much  probability 
about  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Persian  empire,  and  the 
conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great  (circa  334  B.C.),  to  whose 
victories  the  songs  of  rejoicing  in  24:14-16  have  been  supposed  to 
refer. 

160 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  And  it  shall  be,  as  with  the  people,  so  with  the  priest ; 
As  with  the  servant,  so  with  his  master ;   as  with  the 

maid,  so  with  her  mistress  ; 
As  with  the  buyer,  so  with  the  seller  ;  as  with  the  lender, 

so  with  the  borrower  ; 
As  with  the  taker  of  usury,  so  with  the  giver  of  usury 

to  him. 

3.  The  earth  shall  be  utterly  emptied,  and  utterly  spoiled ; 
For  the  Lord  hath  spoken  this  word. 

4.  The  earth  mourneth  and  fadeth  away, 
The  world  languisheth  and  fadeth  away. 
The  lofty  people  of  the  earth  do  languish. 

5.  The  earth  also  is  polluted  under  the  inhabitants  thereof ; 
Because  they  have  transgressed  the  laws,  changed  the 

ordinance. 

Chap.  24.  In  a  series  of  powerful  pictures,  this  poem  describes 
the  judgment  upon  the  wicked  world.  The  moral  order  has  been 
grievously  violated,  and  the  end  cannot  be  far  off  {behold!  vs.  i). 
It  will  come  with  accompaniments  of  violence  and  terror,  and  the 
very  earth  itself  will  reel  and  rock.  All  the  powers  natural  and 
supernatural,  upon  the  earth  and  above  the  earth,  will  be  laid  pros- 
trate ;  and  the  glorious  Jehovah,  who  will  then  be  all  in  all,  will 
set  up  his  everlasting  throne  in  Zion. 

The  Overturning  of  the  World  (vss.  1-13) 

I,  2.  Behold!  This  turning  of  the  world  upside  down  is  ex- 
pected soon;  it  will  take  the  form  of  social  anarchy  (vs.  2),  and 
the  convulsion  of  physical  nature  (i8b-2o).  Society  (cf.  3:  1-7) 
and  nature  will  be  reduced  to  chaos. 

3.  The  confusion  will  be  effected  in  part  by  a  plundering  army, 
in  accordance  with  some  such  prophecy  as  Ezek.  38  f . 

4-12.  These  verses,  though  they  describe  the  future,  no  doubt 
reflect  the  weary  and  gloomy  mood  of  the  contemporary  world. 

4.  The  last  clause  should  probably  read :  the  heaven  (lit.  the  height, 
cf.  vs.  21),  together  with  the  earth  languishes. 

5.  The  earth  is  polluted,  etc.  The  power  of  human  sin  to  infect 
and  transform  even  nature  itself  is  here  strikingly  suggested  (cf. 
vs.  20).     The  sin  is  a  breach  of    the   universal  moral   laws,  espe- 

M  161 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Broken  the  everlasting  covenant. 

6.  Therefore  hath  the  curse  devoured  the  earth, 
And  they  that  dwell  therein  are  found  guilty  : 
Therefore  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  ^  are  burned, 
And  few  men  left. 

7.  The  new  wine  mourneth,  the  vine  languisheth. 
All  the  merry-hearted  do  sigh. 

8.  The  mirth  of  tabrets  ceaseth, 

The  noise  of  them  that  rejoice  endeth, 
The  joy  of  the  harp  ceaseth. 

9.  They  shall  not  drink  wine  ^  with  a  song  ; 
Strong  drink  shall  be  bitter  to  them  that  drink  it. 

10.  The  city  of  ^  confusion  is  broken  down  : 

11.  Every  house  is  shut  up,  that  no  man  may  come  in. 
There  is  a  crying  in  the  streets  because  of  the  wdne  ; 
All  joy  is  darkened, 

The  mirth  of  the  land  is  ^  gone. 

12.  In  the  city  is  left  desolation. 

And  the  gate  is  smitten  with  destruction. 

13.  For  thus  shall  it  be  in  the  midst  of  the  earth 
Among  the  people,  as  the  shaking  of  an  olive  tree. 
As  the  grape  gleanings  when  the  vintage  is  done. 

1  Gr.  shall  be  poor.  2  Qr.  they  are  ashamed.  ^  Heb.  chaos  ;  Gr.  every  city.  ^  Heb. 
gone  into  captivity. 

dally  of  the  law  against  murder  (cf.  26  :  21),  which  appears  to  be 
specially  in  view  in  the  reference  to  the  everlasting  covenant 
(cf.  Gen.  9 :  6,  16). 

6.  Therefore :  sin  brings  a  curse.  Are  burned,  parched  with 
drought  or  fever. 

7-9.  In  the  sorrowful  days  to  come,  there  would  be  no  more 
happy  wine-drinking  to  the  accompaniment  of  music  and  song. 

10-12.  The  traits  of  this  description  seem  to  be  drawn  from  an 
existing  situation.  The  city  of  chaos  (Gen.  1:2)  is  apparently 
Jerusalem.  The  houses  are  shut  for  very  fear,  joy  is  darkened  or 
gone,  gladness  is  banished,  the  gates  are  battered  to  ruins. 

162 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


14.  These  shall  lift  up  their  voice,  ^  they  shall  shout ; 
For  the  majesty  of  the  Lord  they  cry  aloud  from  the 

sea. 

15.  "\Vherefore  glorify  ye  the  Lord  in  the  ^east, 
Even  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  in  the 

isles  of  the  sea." 

16.  From  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth  have  we  heard 

songs,  "Glory  to  the  righteous." 

But  I  said,  ^  "I  pine  away,  I  pine  away,  woe  is  me  ! 

The  treacherous  dealers  have  dealt  treacherously  ;  yea, 
the  treacherous  dealers  have  dealt  very  treach- 
erously." 

17.  Fear,  and  the  pit,  and  the  snare,  are  upon  thee,  0  in- 

habitant of  the  earth. 


1  Gr.  tJiose  that  are  left  behind  upon  the  earth  shall  rejoice  together  in  the  glory  oj  the 
Lord  ;  the  water  of  the  sea  shall  be  troubled.  2  Heb.  lights  ;  Gr.  om.  3  Heb.  leanness 
tome. 

13.  The  judgment  will  be  so  very  thorough  that  but  few  will 
survive  (vs.  6 :  cf.  17:6). 

A  Significant  Event  (vss.   1 4-1 8a) 

14.  Something  has  just  happened  —  whether  Alexander's 
crossing  of  the  Hellespont  or  something  else  —  which  seems  to 
these,  i.e.  the  Jews  dwelHng  in  the  west  (Asia  Minor?  Ht.  the 
sea),  to  illustrate  the  majesty  of  Jehovah  and  to  call  for  devout 
gratitude,  though  the  poet  takes  a  very  different  view  (i6b). 

15.  1 6a.  This  is  what  they  shout.  The}'  call  upon  their  breth- 
ren in  the  east  (lit.  in  the  lights,  i.e.  perhaps  the  regions  of  Hght ; 
the  phrase  is  obscure)  to  glorify  Jehovah;  and  to  the  east,  not 
only  do  the  western  isles  respond,  but  from  the  distant  fringe  of 
the  earth  (Ethiopia?)  are  borne  the  strains  of  the  song,  "  Glory 
is  come  for  the  righteous,"  i.e.  for  Israel. 

i6b-i8a.  This  hopeful  outlook,  however,  the  poet  cannot  share. 
He  can  only  see  in  the  movement  the  advance  of  robbers,  who  will 
plunge  the  whole  world  into  irretrievable  misery  (cf.  Amos  5  :  18- 
20). 

163 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


1 8.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  he  who  fleeth  from  the 

noise  of  the  fear  shall  fall  into  the  pit ; 
And  he  that  cometh  up  out  of  the  midst  of  the  pit  shall 

be  taken  in  the  snare  : 
For  the  windows  on  high  are  opened, 
And  the  foundations  of  the  earth  do  shake. 

19.  The  earth  is  utterly  broken. 
The  earth  is  clean  dissolved. 
The  earth  is  moved  exceedingly. 

20.  The  earth  shall  stagger  like  a  drunken  man, 
And  shall  be  moved  to  and  fro  hke  a  hut ; 

And  the  transgression  thereof  shall  be  heavy  upon  it, 
And  it  shall  fall,  and  not  rise  again. 

21.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day. 

That  the  Lord  shall  punish  the  host  of  the  high  ones 

on  high, 
And  the  kings  of  the  earth  upon  the  earth. 

22.  And  they  shall  be  gathered  together,  as  prisoners  are 

gathered  in  the  pit, 
And  shall  be  shut  up  in  the  prison. 


i8b-2o.  Here  follows  a  passage  of  extraordinary  power.  The 
terrors  of  the  ancient  Flood  return  (Gen.  7:11).  As  if  in  the  grasp 
of  Titanic  powers,  the  earth  splits  and  breaks,  reels  and  rocks, 
like  a  hammock,  or  watchman's  hut  (1:8);  and  the  supreme 
ethical  passion  of  the  poet  is  shown  in  this  that,  for  him,  the  ulti- 
mate reason  for  this  awful  elemental  confusion  is  a  moral  one  — 
the  heavy  burden  of  guilt  that  rests  upon  the  earth ;  and  its  doom 
is  to  be  irretrievable,  like  that  which  long  ago  Amos  (5  :  2)  had 
announced  for  Israel. 

21  f.  The  judgment  is  all-embracing,  it  will  fall  upon  celestial 
no  less  than  upon  terrestrial  powers.  The  host  of  the  height,  i.e., 
of  heaven,  whether  identified  with  or  in  some  way  related  to  the 
stars,  are  probably  the  patron  angels  of  the  nations  of  the  world, 
and  appropriately  involved  in  their  doom.  Their  special  fate  is 
to  be  swept  like  prisoners  into  a  subterranean  pii  (as  described  in  the 

164 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


25:1 


And  after  many  days  shall  they  be  visited. 
23.  Then  the  moon  shall  be  confounded,   and  the  sun 
ashamed ; 
For  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  reign  in  mount  Zion  and  in 

Jerusalem, 
And  ^  before  his  ancients  gloriously. 

Song  or  Thanksgiving  over  the  Destruction  of  Some 
Proud  City  (25  : 1-5) 

25.  O  Lord,  thou  art  my  God  ; 

I  will  exalt  thee,  I  will  praise  thy  name ; 
For  thou  hast  done  wonderful  things. 
Even  counsels  of  old,  in  faithfulness  and  truth. 

1  m.  before  his  elders  there  shall  be  glory. 

apocalyptic  book  of  Enoch,  Chaps.  18,  21),  where,  after  long  con- 
finement, they  will  be  visited  with  final  and  irrevocable  punish- 
ment. 

23.  For  Israel,  however,  the  end  will  not  be  chaos  and  darkness, 
but  order  and  light.  There  will  be  no  need  of  sun  or  moon,  for 
the  glorious  Jehovah  will  be  both  light  and  king,  and  mount  Zion 
will  be  his  throne;  there  the  elders  of  Israel  would  behold  his 
glory  (cf.  4:5  f.)  as  of  old  the  elders  on  Sinai  (Exod.  24:  9-11). 
Thus  the  gloom  and  confusions  of  the  chapter  end  in  a  vision  of 
hope,  which  recalls  the  blessed  days  of  Israel's  olden  time. 

25  :  1-5.  This  passage  is  not  the  continuation  of  the  last.  It  is 
a  lyrical  poem  in  the  style  of  the  Psalms,  celebrating  with  devout 
gratitude  the  fall  of  some  strong,  proud  city  —  whether  Babylon 
in  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  or  Samaria,  towards  the  close  of  the 
second,  or  more  probably  Tyre,  which  was  destroyed  by  Alexander 
the  Great  in  332  B.C.  The  objection  that  the  fall  of  Tyre  could 
not  have  been  the  occasion  of  such  rejoicing  on  the  part  of  the 
Jews  is  hardly  valid  when  we  consider  that  this  had  more  than  once 
been  the  theme  of  Hebrew  prophecy  (Ezek.  26 ;  cf.  Is.  23,  etc.) 

I.  For  Thou  hast  accomplished  marvellous  purposes 

That  of  old  -were  faithful  and  sure. 

The  idea  is  that  the  purpose  —  the  destruction  of  this  city, 
as  announced  in  ancient  prophecy  {e.g.  Ezek.  26)  —  was  wonder- 

165 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  For  thou  hast  made  of  a  city  an  heap ; 

Of  a  defeiiced  city  a  ruin  : 
A  palace  of  ^  strangers  to  be  no  city  ; 
It  shall  never  be  built. 

3.  Therefore  shall  the  strong  people  glorify  thee, 

The  city  of  the  terrible  nations  shall  fear  thee. 

4.  For  thou  hast  been  a  stronghold  to  the  poor, 

A  stronghold  to  the  needy  in  his  distress. 

A  refuge  from  the  storm,  a  shadow  from  the  heat, 
when  the  blast  of  the  terrible  ones  is  as  a  storm 

5.  against  the  wall.     ^  As  the  heat  in  a  dry  place 
Shalt  thou  bring  down  the  noise  of  strangers  ;  as  the 

heat  by  the  shadow  of  a  cloud,  the  song  of  the 
terrible  ones  shall  be  brought  low. 

1  Gr.  ungodly  (insolent).      2  Qj-.  ^5  fainthearted  men  thirsting  in  Zion  by  reason  of 

ungodly  men  to  whom  thou  didst  deliver  tis. 

ful,  almost  incredible ;    nevertheless  the  announcement  was  true, 
and  has  now  been  fulfilled. 

2.  Of  strangers  —  perhaps,  of  the  insolent. 

3.  The  fall  of  this  proud  cit}^  leads  even  the  heathen  nations, 
and  not  the  Jews  only,  to  acknowledge  Jehovah  and  his  might. 
If  the  poem  belong  to  the  second  century  B.C.,  the  city  would  prob- 
ably be  Rome;  if,  however,  it  belong  to  the  fourth  century,  the 
word  city  —  as  no  single  city  seems  to  fit  the  allusion  — may  be 
interpreted  collectively  (cities). 

4  f .  The  poor  and  needy  are  the  Jews.  The  last  clause  of  vs.  4 
("  for  the  blast  of  the  terrible  ones  is  as  a  rainstorm  in  winter  "  — 
rather  than  against  the  wall),  and  the  whole  of  vs.  5  except  "  Thou 
dost  lay  low  the  pride  of  the  insolent  "  (rather  than  the  noise  of 
strangers  —  by  two  very  simple  changes  in  the  text)  are  probably 
glosses.     The  verses  would  then  run : 

For  Thou  hast  been  a  stronghold  to  the  weak, 

A  stronghold  to  the  poor  in  his  distress, 
A  refuge  from  the  rainstorm,  a  shadow  from  the  heat, 

The  pride  of  insolence  thou  layest  low. 
166 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  25:8 


The  Banquet  of  the  Nations  on  Mount  Zion  (25  :  6-8) 

6.  And  in  this  mountain  shall  the  Lord  of  hosts 
Make  unto  all  peoples 

A  feast  of  fat  things,  a  feast  of  wines  on  the  lees, 
Of  fat  things  full  of  marrow,  of  wines  on  the  lees  well 
refined. 

7.  ^  And  he  will  -  destroy  in  this  mountain 

The  face  of  the  covering  that  is  cast  over  all  peoples, 
And  the  veil  that  is  spread  over  all  nations. 

8.  ^He  hath  swallowed  up  death  for  ever ;  i Cor.  15:54 

1  Gr.  they  shall  anoint  themselves  with  myrrh  upon  this  mountain.  2  Heb.  swallow 
up.  3  Gr.  death  hath  prevailed  atid  swallowed  tip.  Theodotion,  i  Cor.  15  :  54,  death  has 
been  swallowed  up  into  victory. 

25  :  6-8.  This  passage,  different  in  theme  and  spirit  from  the' 
last,  is  in  reality  the  continuation  of  24  :  23.  It  is  on  this  mountain, 
i.e.  mount  Zion,  where  Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  King  (24:  23),  that 
the  banquet  of  the  nations  takes  place.  This  beautiful  image 
symbolizes  their  reception  into  the  kingdom  of  God  (cf.  Mat.  8:11, 
Luke  14  :  21-24),  and  the  gladness  of  the  scene  forms  an  admirable 
counterpart  to  the  gloom  and  joylessness  of  24 :  7-9. 

6.  Not  only,  as  in  ancient  days,  for  the  nobles  of  Israel  (Exod. 
24:  11),  but  for  all  peoples,  Jehovah  makes  a  feast.  Ordinarily 
it  was  the  worshippers  who  feasted  the  god,  here  it  is  God  himself 
who  is  the  host.  And  the  feast  is  of  the  finest  —  fat  things  (the 
fat  parts  were  supposed  to  be  best  and  therefore  customarily 
offered  to  the  god)  and  wine  that  had  been  long  settled  on  the 
lees,  and  had  therefore  acquired  a  powerful  flavor.  Before  drink- 
ing, it  was  well  refined,  i.e.  strained. 

7.  The  veil  is  the  veil  of  sorrow,  graphically  described  in  24 :  7- 
12.  The  covered  head  was  a  sign  of  mourning  (2  Sam.  15:  30). 
All  the  nations  share  in  the  banquet,  for  all  had  known  the 
sorrow. 

8.  When  the  veil  is  removed,  tears  are  seen  upon  the  sorrowful 
faces ;  but  these  are  wiped  away  by  divine  hands,  the  hands  of  the 
King  (24:23)  —  wiped  from  all  faces.  As  for  his  people,  the 
Jews,  they  are  scattered  over  all  the  earth,  reproached  and  detested  ; 
but  this  reproach  and  hostility  will  be  removed,  for  there  is  a  divine 
promise  to  that  effect.     The  phrase  He  hath  swallowed  up  death  for 

167 


25:9  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


21:4 


Rev.  7: 17;  And  the  Lord  God  will  wipe  away  tears  from  all  faces; 

And  the  reproach  of  his  people  shall  he  take  away  from 

off  all  the  earth  : 
For  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

Song  over  the  Anticipated  Destruction  of  Moab 

(25:9-12) 

9.  And  it  shall  be  said  in  that  day, 
Lo,  this  is  our  God  ; 

We  have  waited  for  him, 
And  he  will  save  us :    ^  this  is  the  Lord ;    we  have 
waited  for  him, 
We  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  his  salvation. 

1  Some  Gr.  MSS.  om.  this  clause  and  next. 

ever  (quoted  by  Paul  in  i  Cor.  15  :  54),  coming  between  the  veil 
and  the  tears  which  are  visible  on  its  removal,  appears  to  be  an 
intrusion,  though  not  an  inappropriate  one,  as  it  is  in  general  har- 
mony with  the  spirit  of  the  context.  That  great  "  last  enemy  " 
(i  Cor.  15  :  26),  cause  of  so  many  tears,  will  also  be  annihilated  in 
the  coming  kingdom  —  its  citizens  will  be  immortal. 

This  scene  is  one  of  the  most  daring  and  beautiful  in  the  Old 
Testament.  It  is  at  once  infinitely  tender  and  splendidly  gener- 
ous. It  shows  us  a  sorrowful  world  in  which  tears  stand  upon  every 
face ;  but  Jehovah  with  his  own  hands  dries  the  tears,  and  spreads 
his  table  upon  Mount  Zion  not  for  his  own  people  only,  but  for 
all  peoples,  and  gives  his  motley  company  of  guests  of  his  finest 
and  best.  It  is  a  beautiful  picture  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a 
redemption  from  sorrow  and  a  fountain  of  satisfaction,  and  it  is 
instinct  with  a  sense  of  the  infinite  pity  and  the  all-embracing 
hospitality  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

25  :  9-12.  These  verses,  with  their  unconcealed  hatred  of  Moab, 
do  not  breathe  the  generous  atmosphere  of  the  last  section,  and 
are  doubtless  from  a  different  hand.  Some  historical  incident  must 
have  given  the  impulse  to  this  impetuous  outburst,  but  we  do  not 
know  what  it  was. 

9.  A  proud  and  grateful  recognition  of  Jehovah's  power. 
Apparently  the  middle  clause  has  been  inadvertently  repeated ; 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  25:12 


10.  For  in  this  mountain 

Shall  the  hand  of  the  Lord  rest, 
And  Moab  shall  be  trodden  down  in  his  place, 

^  Even  as  straw  is  trodden  down  "  in  the  water  of  the 
dunghill. 

11.  And  he  shall  spread   forth  his   hands  in  the  midst 

thereof, 
As  he  that  swimmeth  spreadeth  forth  his  hands  to 
swim  : 
And  he  shall  lay  low  his  pride 

Together  with  the  craft  of  his  hands. 

12.  And  the  fortress  of  the  high  fort  of  thy  walls  hath  he 

brought  down,  laid  low, 
And  brought  to  the  ground,  even  to  the  dust. 

1  Gr.  as  they  tread  the  threshingfloor  in  waggons.        2  Qr  in  the  dunghill. 


it  is  absent  from  some  of  the  Greek  MSS.     The  verse  would  then 
run : 

Lo  1    Here  is  our  God, 

On  whom  we  have  hoped 
That  he  should  deliver  us. 

Let  us  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  his  deliverance. 

10.  Jehovah's  hand  would  graciously  rest  in  this  mountain,  i.e. 
in  Zion,  for  that  is  the  capital  of  his  kingdom  (24:  23;  25  :  6)  — 
but  Moab  would  be  crushed  by  it.  For  a  similarly  vigorous  and 
contemptuous  reference  to  Moab,  cf.  Ps.  60 :  8.  The  word  for 
straw  (mathbcn)  is  probably  intended  to  suggest  an  allusion  to 
'the  Moab  town  of  Madhmen  (Jer.  48  :  2). 

11.  ''  And  when  he  (Moab)  spreads  forth  his  hands  ...  he 
(Jehovah)  will  lay  low  his  pride."  Moab's  blustering  efforts  to 
swim  in  the  water  of  the  dungpit  would  be  effectively  frustrated ; 
down  he  would  be  thrust,  despite  (rather  than  together  with)  the 
craft  of  his  hands. 

12.  This  verse,  hardly  relevant  here,  appears  to  be  a  variant 
to  26 :  5. 

169 


26:  I  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Song  or  Gratitude  and  Hope  (26 : 1-19) 
Jerusalem  Secure:  The  Proud  City  Destroyed  (26  :  1-6) 

26.      In  that  day  shall  this  song  be  sung  in  the  land  of 
Judah  : 
We  have  a  strong  city ;  salvation  will  he  appoint 
For  walls  and  bulwarks. 

2.  Open  ye  the  gates,  ^  that  the  righteous  nation  which 

keepeth  truth 
May  enter  therein. 

3.  -  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  ^  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is 

stayed  on  thee : 
Because  he  trusteth  in  thee. 

4.  Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  for  ever :    for  ^  in  ^  the  Lord 

Jehovah 

1  Gr.  reads  vss.  2b-4  thus :  let  the  nation  enter  that  keepeth  righteousness  and  keepeth 
truth,  that  layeth  hold  of  truth  and  keepeth  peace;  for  in  thee,  O  Lord,  they  have  assuredly 
trusted  forever,  the  great,  the  eternal  God.  ^  m.  A  stedfast  mind  thou  keepest  in  perfect 
peace,  because  it,  etc.    ^  Heb.  peace,  peace.    *  Gr.  om.  m  the  Lord.    *  Heb.  Jah  Jehovah. 

26 :  1-9.  More  moods  than  one  are  reflected  in  this  carefully 
constructed  poem.  The  opening  stanza  (vss.  i-6)  is  a  song  of 
praise  for  the  safety  of  Jerusalem  and  the  destruction  of  some 
unnamed  lofty  city.  This  leads  in  the  next  stanza  (vss.  7-10) 
to  a  meditation  on  the  ways  of  God,  which,  in  the  third  (vss.  11-14) 
and  fourth  (vss.  15-19),  issues  in  a  daring  outlook  —  not  unmind- 
ful of  the  pathos  of  the  past  —  upon  the  coming  Day,  when  Is- 
rael's dead  would  be  raised  again  to  share  the  national  glory. 

Here  again  the  historical  situation  is  very  hard  to  reconstruct; 
but  the  city  whose  destruction  is  celebrated  is  possibly  Samaria, 
probably  Tyre  (cf.  25  :  1-5). 

I,  2.  In  that  day  .  .  .  Judah:  a  later  introduction  to  the  poem. 
That  day  is  the  glorious  day  to  come  (24  :  21-23). 

The  strong  city  is  Jerusalem,  which  now  appears  to  have  walls. 
Walls  and  bulwarks  he  appoints  for  her  safety.  The  gates  may  have 
just  been  dedicated,  and  the  righteous  who  pass  through  them  are 
the  Jews. 

3.  The  steadfast  mind,  i.e.  him  who  is  steadily  faithful,  thou  dost 
keep  in  good  fortune:  peace,  i.e.  welfare,  prosperity,  is  the  reward 
of  faith  and  fideHty. 

4,  5.  Jehovah  is  worthy  of  all  confidence;    for  he  is  a  rock  of 

170 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Is  ^  an  everlasting  rock. 

5.  For  he  hath  brought  down  them  that  dwell  on  high, 

The  lofty  city  : 
He  layeth  it  low,  he  layeth  it  low  even  to  the  ground ; 
He  bringeth  it  even  to  the  dust. 

6.  ^  The  foot  shall  tread  it  down  ;  even  the  feet  of  the  poor, 

And  the  steps  of  the  needy. 

It  is  Well  with  the  Righteous^  III  with  the  persistently  Wicked 
(26  :  7-10) 

7.  The  way  of  the  just  is  ^  uprightness  : 

^  Thou  that  art  upright  dost  ^  direct  the  path  of  the 
just. 

8.  Yea,  in  the  way  of  thy  judgements, 

O  Lord,  we  have  waited  for  thee  ; 
To  thy  name  and  to  thy  memorial 
Is  the  desire  of  our  soul. 

9.  With  my  soul  have  I  desired  thee  in  the  night ;   yea, 

with  my  spirit  within  me 
Will  I  seek  thee  ^  early  ; 

1  Heb.  a  rock  of  ages.  2  Gr.  om.  the  foot.  ^  va.  a  right  way  :  the  path  of  the  just 
thou  directest  aright.      ^  Gr.  om.  thou  that  art  uprigJit.     °  m.  level.     ^  m.  diligently. 

ages,  as  is  proved  by  his  power  to  lay  the  lofty  city  (Tj^re :    or 
Samaria?)  level  with  the  dust. 

6.  There  is  the  same  wild  joy  at  the  thought  of  trampling  the 
enemy  down  as  in  Mai.  4:3. 

7.  In  the  spirit  of  Psalm  i,  this  vs.  asserts  the  good  fortune  of  the 
good.  The  path  of  the  righteous  is  straight,  thou  smoothest  the  way 
of  the  righteous.  This  truth  had  just  been  illustrated  in  the  expe- 
rience of  the  Jews  (vss.  1-6). 

8.  g.  Jehovah's  way  is  a  way  of  judgment,  it  is  by  this  that  he 
brings  the  disobedient  to  their  senses.  Israel's  patient  waiting 
for  the  divine  judgment  has  already  been  in  part  rewarded,  but 
she  still  longingly  awaits  some  more  signal  memorial  or  manifes- 
tation of  Jehovah's  name  or  character. 

171 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


For  when  thy  judgements  are  in  the  earth,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  world 
Learn  righteousness. 

10.  Let  favour  be  shewed  to  the  wicked,  yet  will  he  not  learn 

righteousness ; 
In  the  land  of  uprightness 
Will  he  deal  wrongfully,  and  will  not  behold 
The  majesty  of  the  Lord. 

The  Utter  Destruction  of  the  Enemy  (26:  11-14) 

11.  Lord,  thy  hand  is  lifted  up,  yet  they  see  it  not: 

But  they  shall  see 
Thy  zeal  for  the  people,  and  be  ashamed ; 
Yea,  ^  fire  shall  devour  thine  adversaries. 

12.  Lord,  thou  wilt  ordain  peace  for  us  :  for  thou  hast  also 

wrought 
All  our  works  for  us. 

13.  0  Lord  our  God,  -  other  lords  beside  thee 

Have  had  dominion  over  us  ; 
But  by  thee  only  will  we  make  mention  of  thy  name. 

^m.  the  fire  of  (i.e.  kindled  against)  thine  adversaries  shall  devour  them.  2  Gr.  take 
possession  of  us.     0  Lord,  besides  thee  we  know  no  other :    we  name  thy  name. 

^  10.  A  very  slight  and  reasonable  addition  of  Marti's  to  the  text 
gives  the  following  excellent  sense :  No  favor  will  be  shown  to  the 
wicked  who  has  not  learned  righteousness.  The  land  of  uprightness 
is  Judah,  and  despite  what  has  happened  there  (vs.  i)  the  wicked 
have  no  eyes  for  the  majesty  of  Jehovah,  but  even  there  go  on  their 
perverse  way. 

1 1 .  It  is  a  familiar  Old  Testament  thought  that  the  bad  are  blind, 
stupid ;  though  the  divine  hand  has  been  so  powerfully  lifted  up 
in  recent  history  (vs.  5),  they  do  not  see  it.  Hence  the  prayer: 
Let  them  see  it  and  be  ashamed,  let  Thy  zeal  for  Thy  people,  and  the 
jire  ordained  for  Thine  adversaries  devour  them. 

12.  Fire  for  them,  but  peace,  i.e.  prosperity,  for  us. 

13.  Other  lords,   foreign  despots,  like  the  Persians.     But  no 

172 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


14.  ^  They  are  dead,  they  shall  not  Hve ;  //^e};  are  ^  deceased, 

they  shall  not  rise  : 
Therefore  thou  hast  visited 
And  destroyed  them,  and  made  all  their  memory 
To  perish. 

A  Yet  More  Glorious  Day  (26  :  15-19) 

15.  Thou  hast  increased  the  nation,  O  Lord,  thou  hast  in- 

creased the  nation  ;    thou  art  glorified  : 
Thou  hast  enlarged  all  the  borders  of  the  land. 

16.  Lord,  in  trouble  have  they  ^  visited  thee,  ^  they  poured 

out  a  prayer 
When  thy  chastening  was  upon  them. 

17.  Like  as  a  woman  with  child,  that  draweth  near  the 

time  of  her  delivery,  ^  is  in  pain 
And  crieth  out  in  her  pangs  ; 
So  have  we  been  before  thee,  O  Lord. 


1  Heb.  the  dead  shall  not  live,  tlie  shades  shall  not  arise.  ^  m.  sJtades  ;  Heb.  rephaitn. 
3  m.  looked  for.  *  Gr.  irith  small  (perhaps  originally  bitter)  afliction  was  thy  chasten- 
itig  to  us.     5  Gr.  om. 

other  do  we  know  (so  the  Greek  version)  besides  Thee :  Thy  name 
we  name,  in  praise,  now  that  the  tyranny  is  over,  the  tyrants  dead 
(vs.  14)  and  Jerusalem  secure  (vs.   i). 

14.  This  verse,  which  appears  to  refer  to  the  permanent  pros- 
tration, in  death,  of  the  tyrants  who  had  ''  lorded  "  it  over  Israel, 
should  be  rendered  as  follows :  Dead  men  cannot  live,  shades  (cf. 
14 :  9)  cannot  rise.  Thou  hast  made  all  their  memory  to  perish, 
i.e.,  every  memorial  of  them,  everything  that  brings  them  back  to 
mind. 

15.  Through  the  recent  successes  (vss.  i,  2)  the  nation  and  its 
borders  have  been  enlarged,  and  thus  Thou  hast  gotten  Thee  glory 
(rather  than  art  glorified). 

16.  By  a  few  simple  changes  this  verse, which  is  not  satisfactory 
in  its  present  form,  would  read  as  follows :  In  trouble  we  sought 
Thee,  we  cried  out  in  distress,  when  Thy  chastisement  came  upon  us. 

17.  18.  These  verses  give  a  graphic  picture  of  the  agonized  but 

173 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


i8.      We  have  been  with  child,  we  have  been  in  pain,  we 
have  as  it  were  brought  forth  wind ; 
We    have    not    wrought    any    dehverance    in    the 
earth ; 
^Neither  have  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  fallen. 
19.  2  Thy  dead  shall  Hve ;    my  dead  bodies  shall  arise. 
Awake  and  sing, 
Ye  that  dwell  in  the  dust ; 
For  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  ^  herbs, 
And  the  earth  shall  ^  cast  forth  the  ^  dead. 


1  m.  neither  have  inhabitants  oj  the  world  been  born.  2  Gr.  The  dead  shall  arise  and 
they  that  are  in  the  tombs  shall  be  raised,  and  they  that  are  in  the  earth  shall  rejoice  ;  for  the 
dew  from  thee  is  healing  to  them  ;  but  the  land  of  the  ungodly  shal!  fall.  ^  Heb.  lights. 
*  Heb.  let  fall.    ^  m.  shades;  Heb.  rephaim. 

ineffective  efforts  of  Israel  in  the  past  —  efforts  which  brought 
no  deliverance  to  the  land,  and  no  increase  to  the  population  (cf. 
margin).  The  word  fallen  in  vs.  18  and  cast  (same  verb  in  He- 
brew) in  vs.  19  refers  to  birth. 

19.  The  men  were  few  (cf.  24 :  6).  The  situation  is  now  indeed 
greatly  improved  (vs.  15),  but  a  yet  more  glorious  day  is  coming, 
when  Israel's  dead  will  he  raised  again  to  share  the  blessings  of 
the  ransomed  people  in  their  larger  borders  (vs.  15).  This  daring 
thought  is  introduced  very  abruptly.  Unfortunately  the  text 
and  the  grammar  are  not  as  certain  as  we  could  wish,  but  probably 
the  words  originally  ran :  Thy  dead  shall  arise,  the  dwellers  in  the 
dust  shall  awake  and  shout  for  joy.  The  dead  bodies  may  have 
been  inserted  to  make  more  prominent  the  idea  of  bodily  resur- 
rection. It  is  only  thy  dead,  i.e.  Israelites,  who  are  to  rise ;  the 
dead  who  oppressed  them  shall  not  rise  (vs.  14).  The  manner  of 
the  resurrection  appears  to  be  suggested  in  the  last  clause  of  the 
vs. ;  for  dew  of  lights,  i.e.  of  supernal  light,  is  Thy  dew,  and  earth  shall 
bring  the  shades  to  birth.  The  dew  is  represented  as  falling  from 
the  upper  regions  of  heavenly  light  upon  the  dusty  graves  of 
Israel's  dead,  quickening  their  inhabitants  into  life,  as  dew 
quickens  the  grass  and  the  flowers. 

With  its  vision  of  a  day  on  which  the  faithful  dead,  triumphant 
over  death,  will  take  their  places  side  by  side  with  the  living 
members  of  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  the  verse  forms  an  ad- 
mirable conclusion  to  the  grateful  praise  and  the  tender  hopes  of 
the  poem. 

174 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


27:1 


Israel's   Security   in   the   Great   World  Judgment 
(26 :  20-27  :  i) 

20.  Come,  my  people,  enter  into  thy  chambers, 

And  shut  thy  doors  about  thee  : 
Hide  thyself  for  a  Httle  moment, 
Until  the  indignation  be  overpast. 

21.  For,  behold,  the  Lord  cometh  forth  out  of  his  place 

To   punish  the   inhabitants  of   the  earth  for  their 
iniquity : 
The  earth  also  shall  disclose  her  blood, 
And  shall  no  more  cover  her  slain. 
27.  In  that  day  the  Lord 

With  his  sore  and  great  and  strong  sword 
Shall  punish  leviathan  the  swift  serpent ; 
And  leviathan  the  crooked  serpent : 
And  he  shall  slay  the  dragon  that  is  in  the  sea. 


26:  20-27:  I.  This  picture  of  the  security  of  Israel  is  the  con- 
tinuation of  25:6-8;  it  illustrates  practically  what  is  meant  by 
the  promised  removal  of  Israel's  reproach  (25:8).  While  the 
hostile  world-powers  are  punished,  she  is  hidden  and  saved. 

20  f.  The  indignation  is  the  storm  of  judgment  which  will 
sweep  across  the  wicked  world,  when  Jehovah  comes  out  of  his 
place,  i.e.  heaven,  to  avenge  the  deeds  of  blood.  The  earth  shall 
disclose  the  blood  which  it  had  absorbed,  and  which  therefore 
could  not  cry  for  vengeance  (Gen.  4:  11),  and  the  corpses  of  the 
slain  shall  be  exposed  in  proof  of  the  murderers'  guilt. 

27:  I.  Jehovah's  mighty  sword  would  speedily  (26:  21)  anni- 
hilate the  hostile  empires  (24:  21),  Whether  the  two  leviathans 
and  the  dragon  represent  three  empires  or  one,  is  not  clear  — 
probably  three ;  in  that  case,  the  sea-dragon  is  no  doubt  Egypt 
(Ezek.  29  :  3),  the  other  two,  if  the  passage  come  from  the  fourth 
century,  will  probably  be  Babylonia  and  Persia,  the  two  most 
recent  oppressors  of  Israel.  In  the  swift  or  fleeing  serpent,  the 
crooked  or  coiled  serpent,  and  the  sea-dragon,  there  is  an  allusion 
to  the  old  Babylonian  story  of  the  victory  of  Marduk,  for  whom  the 
Hebrews  substituted  Jehovah,  over  the  primeval  monster  which 

175 


27*.  2 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Song  of  the  Vineyard  (27  :  2-6) 

2.  In  that  day  : 

^  A  vineyard  of  wine,  sing  ye  ^  unto  it. 

3.  ^  I  the  Lord  do  keep  it ; 

I  will  water  it  every  moment : 

Lest  any  hurt  it, 
I  will  keep  it  night  and  day. 

4.  Fury  is  not  in  me. 

Would  that  the  briers  and  thorns 

Were  against  me  in  battle  ! 
I  would  march  upon  them, 

I  would  burn  them  together. 

5.  Or  else  let  him  take  hold  of  my  strength, 

That  he  may  make  peace  with  me  ; 
Yea,  let  him  make  peace  with  me. 

6.  In  days  to  come  shall  Jacob  take  root : 
Israel  shall  blossom  and  bud  : 

And  they  shall  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit. 

1  Tar.  and  some  Gr.  and  Heb.  MSS.  read  a  pleasant  vineyard.  2  ^n.  of.  ^  In  vss. 
3-5,  Gr.  diverges  very  widely  from  Heb. 

represented  chaos.     That  ancient  conquest  was  but  an  adumbra- 
tion of  this  over  the  latter-day  monsters. 

27  :  2-6.  This  piece  is  loosely  connected  with  the  last  by  the 
general  thought  of  Jehovah's  care  for  Israel.  It  is  the  counter- 
part of  that  other  song  of  the  vineyard  (5  :  1-7)  where  its  fate  was 
so  different. 

2.  Read  :  In  that  day  it  shall  be  said:  Delightsome  vineyard,  sing 
ye  of  it. 

4  f.  Jehovah  cherishes  no  fury  against  his  vineyard,  Israel ;  but 
he  will  wage  deadly  war  against  the  thorns  and  thistles,  i.e.,  the 
enemies  of  Israel  (cf.  2  Sam,  23  :  6  f.).  Even  for  them,  however, 
there  is  mercy,  if  only  they  will  take  hold  of  my  stronghold,  i.e. 
flee  for  refuge  to  Jehovah,  and  make  peace  with  me. 

6.  Israel's  future  prosperity  will  be  wide  as  the  world. 
176 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  27:9 


Jehovah's  Meecy  TO  Israel  (27:  7-11) 

7.  Hath  he  smitten  him  as  he  smote  those  that  smote  him  ? 

Or  is  he  slain  according  to  the  slaughter  of  ^  them 
that  were  slain  by  him  ? 

8.  In  measure,  when  thou  sendest  her  away,  thou  dost 

contend  with  her ; 
He  hath  removed  her  with  his  rough  blast  in  the  day 
of  the  east  wind. 

9.  Therefore  by  this  shall  the  iniquity  of  Jacob  be  -  purged, 

And  this  is  all  the  fruit  of  taking  away  his  sin ; 
When  he  maketh  all  the  stones  of  the  altar 

As  chalkstones  that  are  beaten  in  sunder. 
So  that  the  Asherim  and  the  sun-images  shall  rise  no 
more. 

1  Gr.  Syr.  those  that  slew  him.  ^  m.  expiated. 

27:7-11.  This  section,  like  the  last,  acknowledges  Jehovah's 
tenderness  towards  Israel,  here  especially  manifested  in  the  con- 
trast between  Israel's  fate  and  that  of  her  enemies. 

7.  Hath  he  (Jehovah)  smitten  him  (Israel),  as  he  (Jehovah) 
smote  those  (the  foreign  oppressors)  that  smote  him  (Israel)  ?  Israel 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Persians,  but  not  so  terribly  as  the 
Persians  suffered  at  the  hands  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  overthrew 
their  empire.  Or  was  he  (Israel)  slain  as  those  oppressors  who  slew 
him  were  slain? 

8.  This  difficult  verse  is  now  usually  regarded  as  a  gloss  to  vs.  10, 
elaborating  the  fate  of  the  city.  This  would  explain  the  feminine 
pronouns,  which  do  not  naturally  follow  the  masculines  in  vs.  7 ; 
and  the  figure  is  that  of  a  bird's  nest  carried  away  by  a  storm  (cf. 
16:  2).  The  whole  verse  should  probably  run  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows :  By  scaring  her  away,  by  sending  her  forth,  he  contended  with 
her;  he  removed  her  with  his  rough  blast  in  the  day  of  the  east  wind. 

9.  By  this  :  rather,  on  this  condition.  For  the  Asherim  and  the 
sun-images,  cf.  17  :  8.  The  meaning  is  that  the  destruction  of  the 
idolatrous  symbols  is,  in  one  aspect,  the  condition,  in  another  the 
fruit,  of  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins.  For  when  he  maketh, 
read  that  he  should  make. 

N  177 


10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


10.  For  the  defenced  city  is  solitary, 

An  habitation,  deserted  and  forsaken,  like  the  wil- 
derness: 
There  shall  the  calf  feed, 

And  there  shall  he  He  down  and  consume  the  branches 
thereof, 

11.  When  the  boughs  thereof  are  withered,  they  shall 

be  broken  off ; 
The  women  shall  come,  and  set  them  on  fire  : 

For  it  is  a  people  of  no  understanding  ; 
Therefore  he  that  made  them  will  not  have  compas- 
sion upon  them, 
And  he  that  formed  them  will  shew  them  no  favour. 

Gathered  Home  (27  :  12  f.) 

12.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 

That  the  Lord  shall  beat  off  his  fruit,  from  the  flood 
of  the  River  unto  ^  the  brook  of  Egypt, 

1  Gr.  Rhinocoroura. 

10  f.  These  verses  vividly  describe  the  present  desolation  of 
Jerusalem  (cf.  24:10-12)  —  a  place  where  cattle  pasture  and 
women  come  to  gather  fuel.  The  divine  pity  and  favor  are  with- 
held from  the  people  because  they  have  no  understanding  —  that 
is,  because  they  are  impenitent,  and  have  not  abandoned  their 
sinful  idolatry.  But  if  this  be  abandoned,  the  sin  will  be  expiated 
(vs.  9)  and  the  glorious  future  will  begin  (cf.  vss.  6,  12  f.). 

27:12,  13.  The  great  apocalypse  (Chaps.  24-27)  impressively 
closes  with  a  vision  of  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  the  lands  in 
which  they  had  been  scattered,  to  Jerusalem,  where  they  can 
worship  their  own  God  in  his  own  peculiar  home.  These  vss. 
appear  to  follow  27:1. 

12.  For  flood,  read  ears.  Jehovah  will  heat  out  ears  of  wheat 
from  the  river  Euphrates  to  the  torrent  of  Egypt,  the  southwestern 
boundary  of  Palestine  —  these  being  the  ideal  limits  of  Israel's 
kingdom.  The  final  judgment  is  compared  to  a  threshing,  in 
which  the  heathen,  Hke  the  chaff,  will  be  swept  away,   and  the 

178 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  27:13 


And  ye  shall  be  gathered  one  by  one,  O  ye  children  of 

Israel. 
13.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 

That  a  great  trumpet  shall  be  blown  ;  Mat.  24 :  31 

And  they  shall  come  which  were  ^  ready  to  perish  in 

the  land  of  Assyria, 
And  they  that  were  outcasts  in  the  land  of  Egypt ; 
And  they  shall  worship  the  Lord  in  the  holy  mountain 

at  Jerusalem. 

1  m.  lost. 

Jews,  like  the  good  grain,  will  be  gathered  one  by  one ;  not  one 
of  them  will  be  lost. 

13.  From  the  wider  world,  too,  here  represented  by  Assyria 
and  Egypt,  those  who  were  lost  and  outcasts  will  come  to  Jerusalem 
at  the  sound  of  the  tnunpet  —  one  of  the  imposing  features  of 
apocalyptic  utterance  (cf.  Mat.  24:  31).  The  vision  significantly 
ends  in  an  act  of  worship. 

The  great  world  judgment  is  over;  the  hostile  powers  have 
been  annihilated  (vs.  i),  and  the  Jews,  redeemed  and  restored  to 
their  own  land,  do  homage  to  their  God  upon  the  holy  temple  hill. 


179 


WARNINGS  AND   PROMISES  TO  JERUSALEM 

(ChAPS.    28-33) 

Woe  to  Samaria  (28  : 1-6) 

28.  Woe  to  the  crown  of  pride  of  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim, 
And  to  the  fading  flower  of  his  glorious  beauty, 
Which  is  on  the  head  of  the  fat  valley  of  them  that  are 
^  overcome  with  wine. 

2.  Behold,  the  Lord  hath  a  mighty  and  strong  one ; 
As  a  tempest  of  hail,  a  destroying  storm. 

As  a  tempest  of  mighty  waters  overflowing. 
Shall  he  cast  down  to  the  earth  ^  with  the  hand. 

3.  The  crown  of  the  pride  of  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim 
Shall  be  trodden  under  foot : 

1  Heb.  smitten  down.        2  m.  -^itji  liolence. 

A  fourth  group  of  prophecies  is  constituted  by  Chaps.  28-33, 
which  come  from  Isaiah's  old  age,  and  centre  round  the  fortunes 
of  Jerusalem  during  the  years  704-701  B.C.,  when  Judah,  men- 
aced by  Assyria  under  Sennacherib,  was  secretly  planning  an 
alliance  with  Egypt.  This  group  contains  some  of  Isaiah's 
noblest  work. 

28 :  1-6.  Obviously  this  threat  of  Samaria  must  precede  her 
fall  (in  721  B.C.).  Isaiah,  however,  appropriately  prefixes  it  to 
the  prophecies  concerning  Jerusalem  about  twenty  years  later, 
thereby  ominously  suggesting  that  as  Jerusalem  was  like  Samaria 
in  character  (vss.  i,  7)  so  she  may  be  also  in  her  fate. 

1.  The  proud  crown  of  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim  was  the  city  of 
Samaria,  capital  of  the  northern  kingdom,  which  crowned  a  hill 
that  rose  in  the  middle  of  a  fat  {i.e.  fertile)  valley.  Drunkenness 
was  one  of  her  besetting  sins  (Amos  6:6).  Apparently  garlands 
of  flowers  were  worn  at  carousals  (vs.  3)  —  a  fact  which  lends 
point  to  the  picture.  "  The  prophet  describes  Samaria  as  the 
head  of  a  drunken  reveller,  encircled  with  a  wreath  of  fading 
flowers"  (O.  C.  Whitehouse). 

2.  The  strong  one  is  the  Assyrian,  who  will  come  like  a  destroy- 
ing storm  and  lay  Samaria  prostrate  upon  the  ground,  with  violence 
(cf.  margin). 

180 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  '28 


4.  And  the  fading  flower  of  his  glorious  beauty, 
Which  is  on  the  head  of  the  fat  valley, 

Shall  be  as  the  firstripe  fig  before  the  summer ; 
Which  when  he  that  looketh  upon  it  seeth, 
While  it  is  yet  in  liis  hand  he  eateth  it  up. 

5 .  In  that  day  shall  the  Lord  of  hosts  be  for  a  crown  of  glory, 
And  for  a  diadem  of  beauty,  unto  the  residue  of  his  people : 

6.  And  for  a  spirit  of  ^  judgement  to  him  that  sitteth  in 

judgement, 
And  for  strength  to  them  that  turn  back  the  battle 
at  the  gate. 

The  Scoffers  of   Jerusalem  Threatened    (28 :  7-22) 

Isaiah^s  Solemn  Warning  to  the  Drunken  Priests  and  Prophets 
(28  :  7-13) 

7.  But  these  also  ^  have  erred  through  wine. 

And  through  strong  drink  ^  are  gone  astray  ; 

1  SV  justice.         2  m.  reel.         3  m.  stagger. 

3  f.  The  lovely  city  will  be  trampled  underfoot;  it  will  be  swal- 
loived  up  by  Assyria,  as  greedily  as  one  swallows  the  dainty  first 
ripe  fig  which  appears  in  June,  several  weeks  before  the  fig  season. 
In  point  of  fact  Samaria  stood  a  siege  of  three  years. 

5  f.  These  verses,  which  interrupt  the  context,  are  probably  a 
later  foil  to  vss.  1-4.  They  look  out  upon  the  fortunes  of  the 
remnant  of  Jehovah's  people  in  the  Messianic  days,  when  he  will 
inspire  theni  with  justice  and  valor,  —  equip  them  for  the  duties  of 
administration  and  war. 

28 :  7-13.  This  scene  is  very  dramatic.  Isaiah,  mocked  by  the 
priests  and  prophets  whom  he  has  surprised  in  their  carousals, 
answers  their  mockery  by  the  terrible  threat  that  God  would  yet 
speak  to  them  a  more  strange  and  unwelcome  message  than  his 
own;  he  would  speak  in  Assyrian.  When  the  Assyrians,  with 
their  foreign  jargon,  were  scouring  the  land  of  Judah,  then  It 
would  be  clear  that  Isaiah  had  been  right  after  all. 

7  f.  These  also  in  Jerusalem  (vs.  14)  as  well  as  in  Samaria 
181 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  priest  and  the  prophet 

Have  erred  through  strong  drink, 
They  are  swallowed  up  of  wine, 

They  are  gone  astray  through  strong  drink ; 
They  err  in  vision, 

They  stumble  in  judgement. 
8.  For  all  tables  are  full  of  vomit  and  filthiness, 

So  that  there  is  no  place  clean. 

g.  "  Whom  will  he  teach  knowledge  ? 

And  whom  will  he  make  to  understand  the  message? 
Them  that  are  weaned  from  the  milk. 
And  drawn  from  the  breasts  ? 

10.  For  it  is  precept  upon  precept,  precept  upon  precept ; 

Line  upon  line,  hne  upon  line ; 
Here  a  Httle, 

And  there  a  little." 

11.  Nay,  but  by  men  of  strange  lips 

And  with  another  tongue 
Will  he  speak  to  this  people  : 


(vs.  i),  were  guilty  of  abominable  excess  —  all  the  more  deplorable 
that  they  were  religious  leaders.  Possibly  the  scene  was  in  the 
temple  court.     Judgment,  the  decision  of  cases. 

9  f.  These  are  the  contemptuous  and  ironical  words  with  which 
the  prophet  is  greeted  as  he  comes  upon  the  drunken  revellers. 
The  priests  had  the  knowledge,  the  prophets  the  divine  message ; 
they  needed  no  instruction  from  Isaiah,  they  were  not  babies. 
They  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  his  perpetual  and  monoto- 
nous jingle,  inimitably  expressed  in  the  original  Hebrew  by  the 
uncouth  tsaw  latsaw  tsaw  latsaw  qaw  laqaw  qaiv  laqaw  —  sugges- 
tively rendered  by  Whitehouse  "  law  on  law,  saw  on  saw." 

II.  The  indignant  prophet  immediately  hurls  his  threat.  They 
had  rejected  and  satirized  the  divine  message  as  it  came  through 
him,  they  would  be  compelled  to  listen  to  it  as  it  came  through 
men  of  strange  lips  and  another  tongue,  i.e.  the  Assyrians. 

182 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


12.  To  whom  he  said, 
''This  is  the  rest, 

Give  ye  rest  to  him  that  is  weary ; 
And  this  is  the  refreshing  :" 
Yet  they  would  not  hear. 

13.  Therefore  shall  the  word  of  the  Lord 

Be  unto  them 
Precept  upon  precept,  precept  upon  precept, 

Line  upon  line,  Une  upon  line ; 
Here  a  Httle, 

There  a  little ; 
That  they  may  go, 

And  fall  backward, 
And  be  broken,  and  snared, 

And  taken. 

The  Folly  of  the  Egyptian  Alliance  (28  :  14-22) 

14.  Wherefore  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord, 

Ye  scornful  men. 


12.  Read  :  he  who  said  to  them.  The  words  that  follow  sum- 
marize Isaiah's  general  message;  this  is  the  true  rest,  namely, 
quiet  confidence  in  God  (30:15).  Political  alliances,  such  as 
Judah  was  then  negotiating  with  Egypt  (vs.  15),  often  led  to 
international  complications,  sometimes  to  war ;  those  thus  ren- 
dered weary,  exhausted,  would  find  rest  and  refreshing  in  ab- 
staining from  political  ambitions  and  combinations,  and  in  simply 
trusting  Jehovah. 

13.  Because  they  refused  to  listen  to  Isaiah's  demand  for  simple 
faith,  the  divine  message  would  come  to  them  again  in  a  more 
terrible  form,  fraught  with  ruin.  With  grim  irony,  Isaiah  de- 
scribes the  message  which  the  Assyrians  will  bring  in  the  same 
jingling  words  as  they  had  used  to  describe  his  own.  The  words 
will  be  stranger  than  Isaiah's  —  real  foreign  words,  but  their  mean- 
ing will  be  plain  enough  ;   they  spell  doom  for  Judah. 

14..  The  announcement  concerns  the  priests,  prophets  (vs.  7), 

183 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


That  rule  this  people 
Which  is  in  Jerusalem: 

15.  Because  ye  have  said,  "We  have  made 

A  covenent  with  death, 
And  with  ^  hell 

Are  we  at  agreement ; 
When  the  overflowing  ^  scourge  shall  pass  through, 

It  shall  not  come  unto  us  ; 
For  we  have  made  lies  our  refuge, 

And  under  falsehood  have  we  hid  ourselves." 

16.  Therefore  thus  saith 

The  Lord  God, 
"Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion  for  a  foundation  a  stone, 

A  tried  stone, 
A  precious  corner  stone  of  sure  foundation  : 

He  that  believeth  shall  not  ^  make  haste. 

iHeb.  Sheol.        2  Gr.  storm  (flood).         ^  Qr.  he  ashamed;  SV  be  in  haste. 

and  the  rulers  generally,  who,  resting  their  faith,  like  Ahaz  (Chap. 
7),  rather  in  political  alliances  than  in  God,  are  appropriately 
described  as  scoffers  (cf.  vs.  22),  scorners  of  religion  and  the  unseen. 

15  goes  with  16;  because  .  .  .  therefore.  The  vss.  contrast 
the  false  with  the  true  ground  of  confidence  —  faith  in  Egypt  with 
faith  in  Jehovah.  By  superstitious  and  necromantic  practices, 
connected  perhaps  with  Egyptian  mysteries,  the  leaders  imagined 
themselves  to  bear  a  charmed  life,  secure  against  Death  and 
Sheol.  The  overflowing  flood  (cf.  8 :  7  f . ;  rather  than  scourge), 
that  is,  the  Assyrians,  could  not  reach  them.  Such  sources  of 
confidence,  however,  are  nothing  but  lies  and  falsehood  —  Isaiah's 
own  words,  which  he  puts  into  their  mouths. 

16.  To  their  diplomacy  and  superstition  Isaiah  opposes  faith; 
with  the  scheming  and  scoffing  poHticians,  "  that  rule  this  people 
in  Jerusalem  "  (vs.  14),  he  contrasts  the  little  band  of  the  faithful. 
They  are  the  precious  foundation  stone  of  the  building  yet  to  be 
raised  on  Zion  —  that  is,  of  a  community  consisting  of  those  who, 
like  Isaiah,  have  faith  in  God  and  who  care  ior  justice  and  righteous- 
ness (vs.  17).  The  foundation  is  appropriately  conceived  as  being 
laid  in  Zion,  as  that  was  Jehovah's  earthly  home,  and  with  Zion's 

184 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


17.  And  I  will  make  judgement  the  line, 

And  righteousness  the  plummet, 
And  the  hail  shall  sweep  away  the  refuge  of  Hes, 
And  the  waters  shall  overflow  the  liiding  place. 

18.  And  your  covenant  with  death  shall  be  disannulled, 

And  your  ^  agreement  with  ^  hell  shall  not  stand  ; 
When  the  overflowing  scourge  shall  pass  through, 
Then  ye  shall  be  trodden  down  by  it. 

19.  As  often  as  it  passeth  through. 

It  shall  take  you  ; 
For  morning  by  morning  shall  it  pass  through, 

By  day  and  by  night : 
And  it  shall  be  nought  but  terror 

To  understand  the  message. 

20.  For  the  bed  is  shorter  than  that  a  man  can  stretch  him- 

self on  it ; 
And  the  covering  narrower  than  that  he  can  wrap 
himself  in  it. 


Gr.  confidence  in.        2  Heb.  Sheol. 


fortunes  were  implicated,  for  the  time,  the  fortunes  of  the  true 
religion.  (See  Introduction,  p.  11.)  The  last  clause  should  per- 
haps run  :  the  man  of  faith  shall  not  give  way  (or  he  put  to  shame, 
(so  Gr.).  It  is  the  same  message  as  Isaiah  offered  to  Ahaz,  that 
faith  is  the  secret  of  firmness  and  fixity  (7:9). 

17  f.  Judgment,  i.e.  justice.  The  standards  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  are  to  be  ethical.  Faith  (vs.  16)  must  express  itself  in  works, 
religion  in  morahty.  But  the  refuge,  found  in  the  Egyptian  alli- 
ance, respects  neither  morality  nor  rehgion ;  it  is  but  a  house  built 
on  the  sand,  doomed   to  be  swept  away  by  the  (Assyrian)  flood 

—  swept  into  death  and  Sheol,  from  which  their  superstitious 
covenant  could  not  save  them. 

19.  You  —  emphatic;  you  sceptics  and  scoffers.  Then,  when 
the  terrible  flood  (or  scourge)  moves  ceaselessly  and  inexorably  on 

—  then  perhaps  you  will  believe  the  prophetic  message ;  its  mean- 
ing will  be  only  too  plain. 

20.  A  proverb.  The  Egyptian  alliance  will  prove  inadequate; 
it  will  not  cover  the  situation. 

i8S 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


21.  For  the  Lord  shall  rise  up  as  in  mount  Perazim, 

He  shall  be  wroth  as  in  the  valley  of  Gibeon ; 
That  he  may  do  his  work, 

His  strange  work, 
And  bring  to  pass  his  act, 

His  strange  act. 

22.  Now  therefore  be  ye  not  scorners, 

Lest  your  bands  be  made  strong : 
For  a  consummation,  and  that  determined, 
Have  I  heard  from  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  hosts,  upon 
the  whole  earth. 

The  Patience   and  Considerateness  of   the  Divine 
Purpose  (28 :  23-29) 

23.  Give  ye  ear,  and  hear  my  voice  ; 

Hearken,  and  hear  my  speech. 


21.  Mount  Perazim  and  Gibeon  (i  Chron.  14:  16),  or  Geba, 
where  David  defeated  the  Philistines  (2  Sam.  5  :  20,  25).  Jehovah, 
through  the  Assyrians,  would  rise  up  against  his  people  as 
formerly  he  had  risen  against  their  enemies ;  that  is  why  his 
action  is  described  as  strange  and  alien  (the  Hebrew  words  are 
different). 

22.  Isaiah's  final  warning  to  the  scoffers  (vs.  14)  not  to  tighten 
still  further,  by  their  scoffing,  the  bonds  of  sin,  with  which  penalty 
was  inextricably  bound  up  (5  :  18) ;  for  to  the  sensitive  ears  of  the 
prophet  (22:  14)  had  come  from  Jehovah  the  message  of  destruc- 
tion decreed  (cf.  10:  23). 

These  verses  (7-22)  are  remarkably  vivid;  the  "weary" 
people  in  the  background  (vs.  12) ;  and  on  the  one  side,  the  drunken 
clergy  with  their  ribald  mimicry  of  the  prophet,  and  the  secret 
treaty,  with  its  concomitant  of  dark  superstition;  on  the  other 
hand,  Isaiah,  flaming  with  holy  indignation,  warning  the  scorners 
of  the  oncoming  flood,  himself  kept  steady  by  his  splendid 
faith. 

28 :  23-29.  The  bearing  of  this  curious  little  section  upon  the 
186 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


24.  Doth  the  plowman  plow  continually  to  sow  ? 

Doth  he  continually  open  and  break  the  clods  of 
his  ground  ? 

25.  When  he  hath  ^  made  plain  the  face  thereof, 

Doth  he  not  cast  abroad  the  fitches  and  scatter  the 
cummin, 
And  put  in  the  wheat  ^  in  rows  and  the  barley  in  the 
appointed  place 
And  the  spelt  in  the  border  thereof  ? 

26.  For  his  God  doth  instruct  him  aright, 

And  doth  teach  him. 

27.  For  the  fitches  are  not  threshed  with  a  sharp  threshing 

instrument, 

1  SV  levelled.         2  Gr.  om. 


context  is  not  easy  to  determine.  It  describes,  generally,  how  the 
farmer  adapts  his  methods  to  circumstances  —  he  is  not  always 
doing  the  same  thing  (ploughing)  nor  always  doing  it  in  the  same 
way  (sowing)  —  and,  more  particularly,  with  what  tender  con- 
sideration this  principle  is  applied  when,  as  in  threshing,  severe 
measures  are  necessary.  The  implication  is  that  the  farmer's 
methods  are  a  parable  or  antitype  of  the  divine  dealings  with 
men;  God  will  be  careful,  like  the  farmer,  not  to  destroy  in  the 
process  of  threshing.  The  passage  has  the  effect  of  softening  the 
grave  announcement,  just  made,  of  the  impending  judgment  on 
Judah  (vss.  21  f.),  and  may  be  from  a  later  hand. 

24  f .  The  farmer  is  not  continually  ploughing ;  he  ploughs  with 
a  view  to  the  sowing  and  the  harvest.  So  for  Judah,  now  ploughed 
by  oppressors  (cf.  Ps.  129  :  3),  quiet  fruitful  days  are  in  store.  In 
25b,  read  simply :  does  he  not  set  wheat  and  barley,  and  spelt  as  its 
border ? 

26.  The  farmer's  agricultural  knowledge,  which  he  owes  to 
tradition  and  experience,  is  here  regarded  as  imparted  by  God 
himself.  The  methods  of  adaptation  and  patience  which  he 
teaches  the  farmer,  are  the  methods  he  himself  adopts  in  his 
conduct  of  history. 

27.  When  the  farmer  threshes,  he  adapts  his  methods  to  the 
nature  and  delicacy  of  the  object  to  be  threshed ;  so  also  God. 

187 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Neither  is  a   cart  wheel   turned   about  upon  the 
cummin : 
But  the  fitches  are  beaten  out  with  a  staff, 
And  the  cummin  with  a  rod. 

28.  ^  Bread  corn  is  ground  ; 

For  he  will  not  ever  be  threshing  it : 
And  though  the  wheel  of  his  cart  and  his  horses  scatter 
it, 
He  doth  not  grind  it. 

29.  This  also  cometh  from  the  Lord  of  hosts, 

Which  is  wonderful  in   counsel,   and  excellent  in 
wisdom. 

The  Character  and  Fate  of  Jerusalem  (29  : 1-15) 

The  Fate  of  Jerusalem  (29  :  1-8) 

29.  2  Ho  Ariel,  Ariel, 

The  city  where  David  encamped  ! 
Add  ye  year  to  year  ; 
Let  the  feasts  come  round  : 

1  m.  is  bread  corn  crushed?     Nay,  he  will  not  ever  he  threshing  it.    2  m.     Woe  to. 


28.  This  verse  should  probably  run:  Is  bread  {corn)  crushed? 
Nay,  he  does  not  keep  threshing  it  continually :  but,  when  he  has 
rolled  his  wagon  wheel  over  it  he  scatters  it,  but  does  not  crush  it. 
(So  Duhm.) 

29.  These  wonderful  principles  that  govern  the  farmer's  action 
can  only  have  had  a  divine  origin. 

29:  1-15.  This  passage  belongs  to  a  period  two  or  three  years 
before  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Assyrians  (about  703  B.C.)- 
It  portrays  with  grim  power  the  impending  fate  of  the  city,  and 
the  pathetic  incredulity  and  blindness  of  the  people.  It  begins 
with  Woe  (cf.  28:  i). 

I.  Ariel:  an  obscure  name  for  Jerusalem.  It  probably  means 
altar-hearth,  and  may  have  been  suggested  to  Isaiah  by  the  sight 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  Then  will  I  distress  Ariel, 

And  there  shall  be  mourning  and  lamentation, 
And  she  shall  be  unto  me  as  Ariel. 

3.  And  I  will  camp  against  thee  ^  round  about, 
And  will  lay  siege  against  thee  with  a  fort. 

And  I  will  raise  siege  works  against  thee. 

4.  And  thou  shalt  be  brought  down,  and  shalt  speak  out 

of  the  ground. 
And  thy  speech  shall  be  low  out  of  the  dust ; 
And  thy  voice  shall  be  as  of  one  that  hath  a  famihar 

spirit,  out  of  the  ground, 
And  thy  speech  shall  ^  whisper  out  of  the  dust. 

5.  But  the  multitude  of  thy  foes 

Shall  be  like  small  dust. 
And  the  multitude  of  the  terrible  ones 

As  chaff  that  passeth  away  : 
Yea,  it  shall  be  at  an  instant  suddenly. 

6.  She  shall  be  visited  of  the  Lord  of  hosts 

1  Gr.  like  David  (cf.  vs.  i).        ^  m.  Heb.  chirp. 

of  the  great  altar,  with  its  bleeding  victims,  in  the  temple  court, 
where  the  prophet  may  have  delivered  this  speech  at  a  harvest 
festival.  The  name  impHes  that  Jerusalem  would  drip,  Hke  the 
altar,  with  the  blood  of  the  slain  —  and  that  within  a  year  or  two 
(when  year  was  added  to  year). 

2.  Distress,  i.e.  by  the  Assyrian  army;  and,  instead  of  festal 
joy,  there  shall  be  moaning  and  bemoaning,  and  Jerusalem  shall 
become  a  veritable  Ariel,  drenched  with  blood. 

4.  And  humbly  shalt  thou  speak  from  the  ground.  The  faintness 
of  the  prostrate  city's  voice  is  compared  to  the  twittering  of  a 
ghost  (cf.  8 :  19). 

5.  This  verse,  predicting  the  annihilation  of  Jerusalem's  foes, 
is  probably,  like  vss.  7,  8,  the  insertion  of  some  later  patriot,  who 
believed  in  Zion's  ultimate  triumph  over  all  her  foes. 

6.  With  this  verse  should  go  the  words  and  suddenly,  full  sud- 
denly, it  shall  come,  from  vs.  5.  The  words  that  follow  describe 
how  sternly  Jerusalem  will  be  visited.     In  the  Assyrian  army, 

189 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


With  thunder,  and  with  earthquake,  and  with  great 
noise. 
With  whirlwind  and  tempest,  and  the  flame  of  a  de- 
vouring fire. 

7.  And  the  multitude  of  all  the  nations 

That  fight  against  Ariel, 
Even  all  that  fight  against  her  and  her  stronghold, 

And  that  distress  her. 
Shall  be  as  a  dream. 

As  a  vision  of  the  night. 

8.  And  it  shall  be  as  when  an  hungry  man  dreameth, 

And,  behold,  he  eateth  ; 
But  he  awaketh, 

And  his  soul  is  empty  : 
Or  as  when  a  thirsty  man  dreameth. 

And,  behold,  he  drinketh  ; 
But  he  awaketh,  and,  behold,  he  is  faint, 

And  his  soul  hath  appetite  : 
So  shall  the  multitude  of  all  the  nations  be, 

That  fight  against  mount  Zion. 

The  Spiritual  Torpor  and  Religious  Formality  of  the  People 
(29  '  9-15) 

9.  ^  Tarry  ye  and  wonder  ; 

2  Take  your  pleasure  and  be  bhnd  : 

1  m.  he  ye  amazed.        2  m.  blind  yourselves. 


Jehovah  will  come  as  a  swift  and  terrible  storm  —  with  thunder, 
lightning,  etc.     Here  the  original  message  probably  ends. 

7  and  8  announce,  in  later  fashion,  the  disappointment  and 
defeat  of  Jerusalem's  enemies.  They  will  be  like  dreamers  who 
awake  to  find  themselves  mocked  by  the  reality;  nay,  they  will 
be  even  as  an  unsubstantial  dream  itself. 

190 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


^  They  are  drunken,  but  not  with  wine  ; 
2  They  stagger,  but  not  with  strong  drink. 

10.  For  the  Lord  hath  poured  out  upon  you 

The  spirit  of  deep  sleep,  Rom.  u :  8 

And  hath  closed  your  eyes,  the  prophets  ; 

And  your  heads,  the  seers,  hath  he  covered. 

11.  And  all  vision  is  become  unto  you 

As  the  words  of  a  book  that  is  sealed,  which  men  Rev.  5 :  i 
dehver  to  one  that  is  learned,  saying,  "Read 
this,  I  pray  thee"  :  and  he  saith,  "I  cannot,  for 

12.  it  is  sealed"  :  and  the  book  is  delivered  to  him 
that  is  not  learned,  saying,  "Read  this,  I  pray 
thee"  :  and  he  saith,  "I  am  not  learned." 

1  Gr.  be  drunken.    2  Gr.  om. 

9  f .  Tarry :   read  with  Cheyne  : 

"  Stupefy  yourselves  and  be  stupid, 
Blind  yourselves  and  be  blind; 
Be  drunken,  but  not  with  wine: 

Stagger,  but  not  with  strong  drink.'* 

The  imperatives  are  equivalent  to  very  emphatic  futures  (cf. 
8:9).  The  prophet  means  that  their  past  apathy  will  be  punished 
by  continued  apathy  (cf.  6  :  9  f.),  which  will  render  them  insensible 
to  the  signs  of  the  coming  storm  (vs.  6)  till  it  is  upon  them ;  and 
when  they  do  open  their  sealed  and  stupid  eyes,  it  will  be  to  look 
upon  the  awful  flame  of  devouring  fire  (vs.  6),  and  they  will  reel 
and  stagger,  amid  that  terrible  storm,  Hke  drunken  men. 

ID.  The  Lord  hath  poured,  etc. ;  this  torpor  is,  in  one  aspect, 
a  divine  judicial  penalty;  in  another,  the  effect  of  psychological 
law  —  the  atrophy  of  an  unused  faculty.  God  had  closed  their 
eyes,  but  the  people  had  closed  their  own  eyes.  With  sealed  eyes 
and  muffled  heads  they  could  see  nothing.  Omit  the  prophets 
and  the  seers  as  glosses ;  all  the  people  are  guilty  —  not  these 
only. 

II  f.  All  vision,  the  vision  of  all  this.  These  verses  illustrate  the 
complete  spiritual  incapacity  of  all  classes,  educated  and  illiterate. 
No  one  can  interpret  the  signs  of  the  times,  or  believe  in  the  com- 
ing judgment. 

191 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


13.  And  the  Lord  said, 

"Forasmuch  as  this  people  draw  nigh  unto  me, 
And  with  their  mouth  and  with  their  Hps  do  honour 
me, 
But  ^  have  removed  their  heart  far  from  me, 
And  2  their  fear  of  me 

Is  a  commandment  of  men  which  hath  been  taught 
the^n  ; 

14.  Therefore,  behold,  I  will  proceed  to  do  a  marvellous 

work  among  this  people. 
Even  a  marvellous  work  and  a  wonder  : 
And  the  wisdom  of  their  wise  men  shall  perish. 

And  the  understanding  of  their  prudent  men  shall 

be  hid. 

15.  Woe  unto  them  that  seek  deep  to  hide 

Their  counsel  from  the  Lord, 
And  their  works  are  in  the  dark, 
And  they  say,  "Who  seeth  us? 

And  who  knoweth  us  ?  " 


1  Gr.  their  heart  is  far  from  me  (cf.  Mat.  15  :  8).  2  Gr.  in  vain  do  they  worship  me, 
teaching  Hie  commandments  and  doctrines  of  men  (cf.  Mat.  15 : 9). 

13.  With  this  spiritual  obtuseness  goes  religious  formality, 
which  imagines  that  religion  is  a  matter  of  prescribed  and  recited 
formulas,  instead  of  being  a  thing  of  the  heart.  They  draw  nigh 
with  their  mouth  (omit  and)  —  a  very  trenchant  description  of 
insincere  worship. 

14.  Because  their  worship  was  but  a  heartless  lip-worship, 
Jehovah  will  do  some  strange  (cf.  28:  21)  and  marvellous  thing 
(cf.  vs.  6),  which  will  convince  them  of  the  futihty  of  all  their 
clever  scheming  (cf.  vs.  15). 

15.  A  woe  (cf.  28  :  I ;  29  :  i)  is  pronounced  upon  those  who  hide 
deep  their  purpose  from  Jehovah;  i.e.  who  secretly  negotiated 
for  an  Egyptian  alliance,  without  consulting  Jehovah  through  his 
prophet.  Despite  their  secrecy,  however,  Isaiah  is  aware  of  their 
plan. 

192 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  29:  19 


Doubters  rebuked  by  a  Vision  of  Israel's  Welfare 
IN  THE  Latter  Days  (29 :  16-24) 

16.  ^  Ye  turn  things  upside  down  !     Shall  the  potter  be 

counted  as  clay ; 
That  the  thing  made  should  say  of  him  that  made  it,   Rom.  9: 20 

''He  made  me  not ;" 
Or  the  thing  framed  say  of  him  that  framed  it,  "He 

hath  no  understanding"  ? 

17.  Is  it  not  a  very  little  while. 

And  Lebanon  shall  be  turned  into  ^  a  fruitful  field. 
And  ^  the  fruitful  field  shall  be  counted  for  a  forest  ? 

18.  And  in  that  day  shall  the  deaf  hear  the  words  of  the 

book. 
And  the  eyes  of  the  bUnd  shall  see  out  of  obscurity  and 
out  of  darkness. 

19.  The  meek  also  shall  increase  their  joy  in  the  Lord, 

1  m.  0  your  percersity  I        2  q^.  mount  Cannel. 

29 :  16-24.  Some  recent  scholars  believe  that  this  section  is  the 
work  of  a  later  age.  It  has  no  intimate  relation  to  the  context, 
whose  woes  (29:  15;   30:  i)  are  here  replaced  by  tender  promises. 

16.  Read  with  margin  0  your  perversity!  The  perversity  of 
those  here  addressed  consisted  in  doubting  whether  their  hopes  of 
Israel's  deliverance  and  welfare  would  ever  be  realized.  But 
surely  God,  as  the  potter,  has  power  to  mould  the  clay. 

17.  A  great  transformation  is  impending,  when  the  great 
heathen  world-power,  typified  by  Lebanon  (cf.  10:  34),  shall  be 
levelled,  like  the  field,  and  Israel,  now  lowly,  shall  be  exalted  like 
the  forest  of  Lebanon  (cf.  32:15).  Or  the  meaning  may  be  that 
the  physical  world  will  also  be  transformed,  the  fruitful  becoming 
more  fruitful ;  in  that  case,  forest  =  luxurious  forest. 

18.  In  that  day  of  transformation,  the  spiritually  deaf  and  blind 
will  understand  and  respond  to  the  ancient  prophetic  promise, 
the  words  of  the  book  which  had  hitherto  been  to  them  sealed 
and  unintelligible  (vss.  11,  12). 

19.  20.  The  humble,  poor,  crushed  Jews  would  rejoice  because, 

o  193 


29:20  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  the  poor  among  men  shall  rejoice  in  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel. 

20.  For  the  terrible  one  is  brought  to  nought,   and  the 

scorner  ceaseth, 
And  all  they  that  watch  for  iniquity  are  cut  off : 

21.  That  make  a  man  an  offender  Hn  a  cause, 

And  lay  a  snare  for  him  that  reproveth  in  the  gate, 
And  turn  aside  the  just  with  a  thing  of  nought. 

22.  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord,  who  redeemed  Abraham, 

concerning  the  house  of  Jacob : 
Jacob  shall  not  now  be  ashamed. 
Neither  shall  his  face  now  wax  pale. 

23.  But  when  he  seeth  his  children,  the  work  of  mine  hands, 

in  the  midst  of  him. 
They  shall  sanctify  my  name  ; 
Yea,  they  shall  sanctify  the  Holy  One  of  Jacob, 
And  shall  stand  in  awe  of  the  God  of  Israel. 

^m.  by  their  words. 


by  the  mercy  of  their  God,  the  tyrant  who  oppressed  them,  the 
apostates  who  scorned  them,  and  all  who  were  vigilant  in  the  cause 
of  iniquity,  would  then  have  disappeared. 

21.  The  offenders  specially  mentioned  in  vs.  21  are  those  who 
denounce  men  with  a  word  (rather  than  in  a  cause),  i.e.  calum- 
niously ;  those  who  lay  a  snare  by  speech  or  bribery,  for  him  that 
reproveth  in  the  city  gate  (where  cases  were  tried),  i.e.  for  the  judge 
and  those  who  with  a  thing  of  nought,  i.e.  on  an  empty  pretext, 
turn  aside  the  just  from  the  decision  to  which  he  is  entitled.  The 
old  sin  of  legal  injustice  (i  :  17)  will  have  vanished  in  that  day. 

22.  Read:  Therefore  thus  saith  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  house  of 
Jacob,  who  redeemed  Abraham.  The  future  redemption  of  the 
people  (here  called  Jacob,  as  often  Israel)  will  match  the  ancient 
redemption  of  Abraham. 

23.  Omit  his  children.  Read  :  when  he  (i.e.  Jacob,  the  people) 
seeth  the  work  of  mine  hands,  i.e.  the  glorious  redemption  and 
transformation,  the  result  will  be  a  deeper  reverence  and  awe 
(cf.  8:13). 

194 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  30:3 


24.  They  also  that  err  in  spirit  shall  come  to  understanding, 
And  they  that  murmur  shall  learn  doctrine. 

The  Egyptian  Alliance  a  Ruinous  Policy  (30:1-17) 
The  Embassy  to  Egypt  (30  :  1-5,  6  f.) 

30.  Woe  to  the  rebeUious  children, 

Saith  the  Lord, 
That  take  counsel, 

But  not  of  me  ; 
And  that  ^  cover  with  a  covering, 

But  not  of  my  spirit. 
That  they  may  add 

Sin  to  sin : 

2.  That  walk  to  go  down  into  Egj^t, 

And  have  not  asked  at  my  mouth  ; 
To  2  strengthen  themselves  in  the  strength  of  Pharaoh, 
And  to  trust  in  the  shadow  of  Egypt ! 

3.  Therefore  shall  the  strength  of  Pharaoh  be  your  shame. 

And  the  trust  in  the  shadow  of  Egypt  your  confusion. 

1  m.  weave  a  web  or  pour  out  a  drink  offering.        "^m.  flee  to  the  stronghold  of  Pharaoh. 

24.  The  erring  and  discontented  Jews  would  then  submit 
themselves  to  the  disciphne  of  the  law. 

30:1-17.  The  Egyptian  alliance,  already  vaguely  alluded  to 
(29:  15),  is  now  explicitly  described  and  denounced  as  at  once  a 
folly  and  an  apostasy.  It  is  folly  to  trust  to  fickle  Egypt ;  and 
trust  in  Egypt  springs  from  that  lack  of  confidence  in  Jehovah 
which  will  bring  the  state,  like  a  tottering  wall,  to  sudden  ruin. 

I.  Woe:  cf.  28  :  I ;  29:  i,  15.  For  take  counsel,  read  carry 
out  a  purpose;  for  cover  with  a  covering,  read  with  margin,  pour 
out  a  drink  ofering,  i.e.  make  a  treaty;  and  at  end  read  adding 
sin  to  sin.  The  children  enter  upon  this  important  alliance  with- 
out consulting  their  father  Jehovah  (cf.  i :  2)  through  his  prophet 
Isaiah  (cf.  29 :  15). 

2  f.  To  strengthen  themselves,  etc. :  read  to  flee  to  the  shelter  of 
Pharaoh.     Egyptian  help  would  prove  a  delusion. 

195 


3014  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


4.  For  his  princes  are  at  Zoan, 

And  his  ambassadors  ^  are  come  to  Hanes. 

5.  They  shall  all  be  ashamed 

Of  a  people  that  cannot  profit  them, 
That  are  not  an  help  nor  profit, 
But  a  shame,  and  also  a  reproach. 

6.  The  -  burden  of  the  beasts  of  the  South. 

Through  the  land  of  trouble  and  anguish, 
From  whence  come  the  honess  and  the  lion. 

The  viper  and  fiery  flying  serpent. 
They  carry  their  riches  upon  the  shoulders  of  young 
asses, 

And  their  treasures  upon  the  ^  bunches  of  camels. 
To  a  people  that  shall  not  profit  them. 

1  Gr.  shall  labor  in  vain.        2  m,  oracle  concerning.        ^  SV  humps. 


4  f.  His,  i.e.  Pharaoh's.  For  Zoan,  cf.  19  :  11 ;  Hanes,  south  of 
Memphis ;  the  two  names  indicate  the  northern  and  southern 
limits  of  Egypt.  Despite  the  extent  of  Pharaoh's  sway,  all 
who,  Hke  Judah,  appeal  to  him  for  help,  come  to  shatne  (or,  by 
another  reading,  come  into  bad  odor).  With  some  very  slight 
changes,  however,  a  somewhat  more  appropriate  rendering  may 
be  obtained  :  For  the  princes  {i.e.  of  Judah)  have  encamped  in 
Zoan,  and  his  ambassadors  reach  Hanes ;  they  have  all  brought 
presents  to  a  people  that  cannot  help.  This  picture  of  the  royal 
ambassadors  of  Judah  with  their  presents  would  then  be  a  compan- 
ion to  that  of  vss.  6  f. 

6  f .  This  is  an  independent  oracle,  though  parallel,  in  thought, 
to  the  last.  It  describes  the  dangers  of  the  South,  the  Negeb 
(cf.  21  :  I ),  the  wilderness  south  of  Judah  (cf.  Deut.  8:  15),  which 
the  Judaean  ambassadors,  their  animals  loaded  with  presents,  had 
to  cross  on  their  way  to  Egypt.  In  the  somewhat  obscure  intro- 
ductory words  Oracle  concerning  the  beasts  of  the  south  (cf.  margin), 
the  beasts  are  perhaps  those  alluded  to  in  the  course  of  the  verse. 
For  from  whence  come  the  lioness  and  the  lion,  read  of  the  roaring 
lion  and  lioness.  Seq)ent,  cf.  14 :  29.  The  dangers  are  enumer- 
ated to  illustrate  the  folly  of   the  embassy,  which  is  doomed  in 

196 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  30:10 


7.  For  Egypt  helpeth  in  vain,  and  to  no  purpose  : 
Therefore  have  I  called  her 

Rahab  that  sitteth  still. 

Jtidah's  Rebellion  and  Ruin  (30  :  8-1 7) 

8.  Now  go,  write  it  before  them  on  a  tablet, 

And  inscribe  it  in  a  book, 
That  it  may  be  for  the  time  to  come 
^  For  ever  and  ever. 

9.  For  it  is  a  rebellious  people, 

Lying  children, 
Children  that  will  not  hear 
The  law  of  the  Lord  : 
10.  Which  say  to  the  seers,  ''See  not"  ; 

And  to  the  prophets,  "Prophesy  not  unto  us  right 
things, 
Speak  unto  us  smooth  things. 
Prophesy  deceits : 

1  Syr.  Vg.  Tar.  for  a  witness  for  ever. 

advance  to  be  fruitless.  Rahab,  etc. :  these  words  are  very  ob- 
scure. Almost  all  that  is  certain  is  that  Rahab,  a  mythological 
monster  (Job  9  :  13),  stands  for  Egypt  (Ps.  87  :  4)  with  her  bluster- 
ing but  impotent  arrogance. 

30:8-17.  Isaiah's  message  has  been  received  with  mockery 
(28:  10,  14).  He  therefore  retires  to  his  house,  and  commits  it 
to  writing  as  an  everlasting  witness  to  the  unbelief  of  his  people. 

8.  Now  that  the  message  had  been  spurned  (cf.  8:16-18). 
The  it  is  the  message,  whether  the  substance  of  Chaps.  28-30  or 
more  briefly  the  fine  summary  of  it  in  30  :  15  f.  Read,  with  margin, 
for  a  witness  forever. 

9  f .  The  law  of  Jehovah  is  instruction  such  as  Isaiah  had  given 
(cf.  1 :  10).  There  were  others  hke-minded  with  Isaiah,  seers 
and  prophets,  whose  words  w^ere  also  spurned.  In  vs.  10,  as  in 
28 :  15,  Isaiah  puts  his  own  estimate  into  the  mouth  of  the  people 
when  he  makes  them  say  prophesy  illusions  (or  delusions). 

197 


3o:il  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


11.  Get  you  out  of  the  way, 

Turn  aside  out  of  the  path, 
Cause  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
To  cease  from  before  us." 

12.  Wherefore  thus  saith  the  Holy  One  of  Israel, 
"Because  ye  despise  this  word, 

And  trust  in  ^  oppression  and  perverseness, 
And  stay  thereon ; 

13.  Therefore  this  iniquity 

Shall  be  to  you 
As  a  breach  ready  to  fall. 

Swelling  out  in  a  high  wall, 
Whose  breaking  cometh  suddenly 

At  an  instant." 

14.  And  he  shall  break  it  as  a  potter's  vessel  is  broken, 

Breaking  it  in  pieces  without  sparing  ; 
So  that  there  shall  not  be  found 
Among  the  pieces  thereof  a  sherd  ^ 

1  Gr.  falsehood.        2  SV  adds  wherewith. 

11.  Get  ye  out  of  the  way,  i.e.  your  way  of  teaching  :  the  people 
request  the  prophets  to  give  up  their  threatening  and  alarming 
message,  and  to  trouble  them  no  more  with  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 
This  is  a  real  revolt  from  God,  though  not  a  formal  one ;  for  the 
people  who  say  this  still  ''  draw  near  him  with  their  mouth  and 
honor  him  with  their  lips  "  (29  :  13).  But  it  is  the  holy,  the  moral, 
demands  of  the  prophets  that  provoke  them ;  it  is  their  own  will, 
and  not  his,  that  they  wish  to  see  done  (cf.  30  :  i  f.). 

12.  To  their  speech,  vss.  10  f.,  the  prophet  rephes ;  and  the  reply 
is  offered  in  the  name  of  the  holy  One,  with  whom  they  wished  to 
have  nothing  to  do.  This  word,  denouncing  the  Egyptian  alli- 
ance, a  policy  here  described  as  ivile  (rather  than  oppression) 
and  craft. 

13  f.  A  very  expressive  figure.  As  a  wall  in  which  a  breach  has 
been  made  bulges  out  and  finally  comes  suddenly  crashing  down, 
so  by  her  crooked  policy  will  the  state  of  Judah  collapse  in  swift 
and  irretrievable  ruin  —  with  not  a  useful  fragment  left. 

198 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  30:17 


To  take  fire  from  the  hearth, 

Or  to  take  water  withal  out  of  the  cistern. 

15.  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  God, 

The  Holy  One  of  Israel, 
"In  returning  and  rest 

Shall  ye  be  saved  ; 
In  quietness  and  confidence 

Shall  be  your  strength: 
And  ye  would  not. 

16.  But  ye  said,  'No, 

For  we  will  flee  upon  horses ' ; 

Therefore  shall  ye  flee  : 
And,  '  We  will  ride  upon  the  swift ' ; 

Therefore  shall  they  that  pursue  you  be  swift, 

17.  One  thousand  shall  flee 

At  the  ^  rebuke  of  one  ; 
At  the  ^  rebuke  of  five  shall  ye  flee  : 

Till  ye  be  left 
As  a  ^  beacon  upon  the  top  of  a  mountain. 

And  as  an  ensign  on  a  hill." 


^SY  threat.    ^  m.  mast;  SVm.  pole. 


15.  This  verse  is  a  terse  and  splendid  summary  of  Isaiah's 
gospel.  Judah's  salvation  depended  upon  her  turning  away  (rather 
than  returning)  from  schemes  of  political  ambition,  and  remaining 
quiet;  but  this  quietness  was  only  possible  to  those  who  had 
confidence  in  Jehovah,  in  his  control  of  history  and  in  the  triumph 
of  his  purpose.     Therein  lay  the  secret  of  all  real  strength. 

16  f.  To  this  quiet  trust  in  the  unseen  God,  Judah  preferred  the 
substantial  and  visible  support  of  Egyptian  horses.  Isaiah 
grimly  reminds  them  that  the  pursuing  Assyrian  horses  would  also 
be  swift;  and  then  their  heroism  would  vanish,  a  handful  of 
Assyrians  {five)  scattering  them  completely,  the  survivors  being 
as  lonely  as  a  beacon,  mast  (cf.  margin),  or  signal  pole  on  a  hill. 
Omit  the  first  clause  one  thousand  .  .  .  of  one  (from  Deut.  32  : 
30?). 


199 


3o:i8  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Final  Triumph  and  Prosperity  op  Jerusalem 
(30:  18-33) 

Forgiveness  and  Prosperity  (30  :  18-26) 

18.  And  therefore  will  the  Lord  wait,  that  he  may  be 

gracious  unto  you, 
And  therefore  will  he  be  exalted,  that  he  may  have 

mercy  upon  you : 
For  the  Lord  is  a  God  of  judgement ; 
Blessed  are  all  they  that  wait  for  him. 

19.  ^  For  the  people  shall  dwell  in  Zion  at  Jerusalem  : 
Thou  shalt  weep  no  more  ; 

He  will  surely  be  gracious  unto  thee  at  the  voice  of 

thy  cry ; 
When  he  shall  hear,  he  will  answer  thee. 

20.  And  though  the  Lord  give  you  the  bread  of  adversity 

and  the  water  of  afHiction, 
Yet  shall  not  thy  -  teachers  be  hidden  any  more, 
But  thine  eyes  shall  see  thy  ^  teachers  : 

1  m.  0  people  that  dwellest.         2  jn_  teacher. 

30:  18-33.  This  passage,  with  its  vision  of  the  divine  pity  and 
forgiveness  bestowed  upon  Jerusalem,  of  her  brilliant  material 
and  spiritual  welfare,  and  of  her  signal  triumph  over  Assyria, 
is  in  very  marked  contrast  to  the  last  passage,  to  which  it  is  ap- 
pended rather  than  intimately  related.  It  probably  expresses  the 
hopes  of  a  much  later  age. 

18  f.  The  divine  yearning  ought  to  be  met  by  the  human; 
"  Jehovah  longs  to  be  gracious  to  you  .  .  .  Happy  are  all  who 
long  for  him."  He  is  a  God  of  judgment  —  rather  of  justice; 
he  helps  Israel  to  her  rightful  place.  In  vs.  19,  read  :  0  people  in 
Zion,  that  dwellest  at  Jerusalem,  thou  shalt  -weep  no  more  (cf.  25  :  8). 

20  f.  This  bread  and  water,  practically  prison  fare  (i  Kings  22  : 
27),  may  suggest  a  siege.  In  the  era  of  redemption  which  follows 
Jehovah  is  —  characteristically  for  post-exilic  Judaism  —  re- 
garded as  Teacher ;   yet  thy  Teacher  (sing.)  unll  no  more  withdraw 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  30:25 


21.  And  thine  ears  shall  hear  a  word  behind  thee,  saying  : 
"This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it":  when  ye  turn  to  the 

right  hand,  and  when  ye  turn  to  the  left. 

22.  And  lye  shall  defile  the  overlaying  of    thy  graven 

images  of  silver, 
And  the  plating  of  thy  molten  images  of  gold  : 
Thou  shalt  cast  them  away  as  an  ^  unclean  thing ; 
Thou  shalt  say  unto  it,  "Get  thee  hence." 

23.  And  he  shall  give  the  rain  of  thy  seed  that  thou  shalt 

sow  the  ground  withal ; 
And  bread  of  the  increase  of  the  ground,  and  it  shall 

be  fat  and  plenteous  : 
In  that  day  shall  thy  cattle  feed  in  large  pastures. 

24.  The  oxen  Hkewise  and  the  young  asses  that  till  the 

ground 
Shall  eat  ^  savoury  provender,  which  hath  been  win- 
nowed with  the  shovel  and  with  the  fan. 

25.  And  there  shall  be  upon  every  lofty  mountain. 

And  upon  every  high  hill  rivers  and  streams  of  water. 
In  the  day  of  the  great  slaughter,  when  the  towers  fall. 

1  Gr.  Vg.  thou  slialt.        2  Heb.  menstruoiis .        ^  Heb.  salted. 

himself  —  he  would  remain  in  Zion  (4  :  5  f .)  —  hut  thine  eyes  shall 
continually  see  thy  Teacher,  who  would  always  be  ready  with  a 
word  of  instruction  for  those  who  turned  aside. 

22.  With  such  a  teacher,  the  people  would  naturally  abandon 
idolatry,  and  destroy  its  symbols  as  Moses  did  the  golden  calf 
(Exod.  32  :  20). 

23-25.  Spiritual  blessings  (vss.  20  f.)  would  be  crowned  with 
material  (Mat.  6:33).  In  those  great  days,  the  land  would  be 
gloriously  fertile ;  even  the  animals  would  share  in  the  general 
prosperity  —  for  God  does  care  for  the  oxen  (i  Cor.  9:9).  They 
are  to  have  salted  provender,  of  which  they  are  specially  fond. 
From  the  hills,  so  frequently  parched,  would  stream  abundance  of 
water  in  those  latter  days,  in  the  day  of  the  great  slaughter  of 
the  proud  heathen,  who  are  here  perhaps  intended  by  the  towers. 


30:26  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


26.  Moreover  the  light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of 

the  sun, 
And  the  Hght  of  the  sun  shall  be  sevenfold,  as  the  light 

of  seven  days. 
In  the  day  that  the  Lord  bindeth  up  the  hurt  of  his 

people. 
And  healeth  the  stroke  of  their  wound. 

The  Glorious  Triumph  (30  :  27-33) 

27.  Behold,  the  name  of  the  Lord  cometh  from  far. 

Burning  with  his  anger,  and  in  thick  rising  smoke : 
His  lips  are  full  of  indignation. 

And  his  tongue  is  as  a  devouring  fire  : 

28.  And  his  breath  is  as  an  overflowing  stream, 

That  reacheth  even  unto  the  neck. 
To  sift  the  nations  with  the  sieve  of  vanity  : 

And  a  bridle  that  causeth  to  err  shall  he  in  the  jaws 
of  the  peoples. 

29.  Ye  shall  have  a  song 

26.  The  glory  of  the  earth  would  be  matched  by  the  glory  of 
the  heavens,  the  moon  shining  with  the  brilliance  of  the  sun,  and 
the  sun  with  seven  times  its  normal  splendor. 

27.  The  name  of  the  LORD,  that  is,  Jehovah  in  some  glorious 
manifestation,  is  coming.  This  fine  description  of  the  manifesta- 
tion combines  the  figures  of  a  storm  and  an  angry  face.  The 
tongue  of  fire  is  the  Hghtning  that  flashes  from  the  heavy  rising 
clouds. 

28.  In  this  verse  the  figure  changes  three  times :  (i)  his  breath 
is  compared  to  a  mountain  torrent,  suddenly  rising  to  men's 
necks;  (ii)  he  sifts  the  heathen  nations  with  a  sieve  which  re- 
duces them  to  nothing  —  that  is,  sifts  them  till  they  are  annihi- 
lated; (iii)  he  is  a  bridle,  restraining  the  nations,  and  guiding 
them  astray,  that  is,  to  destruction. 

29.  When  so  mighty  a  God  assails  Israel's  enemies,  victory 
must  be  hers ;  and  therefore  a  glad  song  of  thanksgiving  and  praise 
shall  he  yours,  —  a  song  which,  for  gladness,  can  only  be  compared 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  30:33 


As  in  the  night  when  a  holy  feast  is  kept ; 
And  gladness  of  heart,  as  when  one  goeth  with  a  pipe 
To  come  into  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the  Rock 
of  Israel. 

30.  And  the  Lord  shall  cause  his  glorious  voice  to  be  heard. 

And  shall  shew  the  hghting  down  of  his  arm. 
With  the  indignation  of  his  anger,  and  the  flame  of  a 
devouring  fire, 
With  a  ^  blast,  and  tempest,  and  hailstones. 

31.  For  through  the  voice  of  the  Lord  shall  the  Assyrian 

be  broken  in  pieces, 
2  Which  smote  with  a  rod. 

32.  And  every  ^  stroke  of  the  appointed  staff, 

Which  the  Lord  shall  lay  upon  him. 
Shall  be  with  tabrets  and  harps  : 

And  in  battles  of  shaking  will  he  fight  with  them. 

33.  For  a  Topheth  is  prepared  of  old  ;  yea,  for  the  king  it 

is  made  ready ; 

1  m.  crashing.        2  m.  ^th  his  rod  shall  he  smite  him.        3  Heb.  passing. 

to  that  of  the  holy  festival,  whether  the  harvest  feast  of  ingather- 
ing, or  (because  of  the  reference  to  the  night)  the  passover;  or 
to  the  joy  of  those  who  march,  to  the  sound  of  music,  in  festal 
procession  to  the  temple.  These  comparisons  are  instinct  with 
the  joy  of  worship. 

30.  Jehovah  fights  for  his  people  as  the  God  of  the  storm,  with 
his  angry  thunder  and  lightning  and  hail,  as  long  ago  he  fought 
against  the  Canaanites  (Josh.  10:  11). 

31.  The  awful  thunder-peal  creates  a  panic  artiong  the  enemy. 
It  is  difiicult  to  say  whether  the  last  clause  should  be  referred  to 
the  Assyrians  (RV  text)  or  to  Jehovah  (RV  m.). 

32.  The  blows  which  Jehovah  rains  upon  the  enemy  will  be 
accompanied  by  music  on  the  part  of  the  delighted  Jews;  with 
music  also  the  Victor  is  greeted  (Exod.  15:  20) .  Battles  of  shaking 
are  battles  in  which  Jehovah  swings  his  mighty  arm  (cf.  19  :  16). 

33.  Read,  A  pyre  has  been  made  ready  beforehand,  deep  and 
wide  ;  that  is,  for  burning  the  Assyrian  dead.     To  a  Hebrew  ear, 

203 


31 : 1  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


He  hath  made  it  deep  and  large  : 
The  pile  thereof  is  fire  and  much  wood ; 
The  breath  of  the  Loed,  Hke  a  stream  of  brimstone, 
doth  kindle  it. 

The  Folly  of  the  Egyptlvn  Alll\nce  (31 : 1-4) 

31.  Woe  to  them  that  go  down 

To  Egypt  for  help, 
And  stay  on  horses  ; 

And  trust  in  chariots,  because  they  are  many, 
And  in  horsemen, 

Because  they  are  very  strong  ; 
But  they  look  not  unto  the  Holy  One  of  Israel, 

Neither  seek  the  Lord  ! 

2.  Yet  he  also  is  wise,  and  will  bring  evil. 

And  will  not  call  back  his  words  : 
But  will  arise  against  the  house  of  the  evil-doers. 
And  against  the  help  of  them  that  work  iniquity. 

3.  Now  the  Egyptians  are  men,  and  not  God ; 

And  their  horses  flesh,  and  not  spirit : 

the  word  for  pyre  would  suggest  Topheth,  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom, 
where  sacrifices  were  ofifered  to  Molech.  This  may  explain  the 
words,  Is  this  also  for  Molech?  (or  for  the  king,  that  is,  the  king  of 
Assyria),  which  appear  to  be  a  later  insertion.  The  meaning  is 
that  in  a  huge  fire,  carefully  prepared  and  kindled  by  Jehovah 
himself,  the  heathen  dead  will  be  consumed.  There  is  a  touch  of 
bitterness  about  these  last  verses.  The  writer  contemplates, 
with  grim  satisfaction,  the  annihilation  of  his  people's  foes. 

31  :  1-4.  The  theme  of  this  passage  is  the  same  as  that  of  30  :  1-7. 

1.  "Woe:  cf.  30:  I.  The  contrast  is  striking  between  trust  in 
Egyptian  cavalry  (cf.  30 :  16)  and  trust  in  God. 

2.  He  also  is  wise,  as  well  as  the  politicians;  they  have  their 
plans,  he  has  his.  And  his  words  —  his  threats  through  the  prophet 
Isaiah  —  he  has  not  recalled.  The  evil-doers  are  the  Judaeans, 
their  help  the  Egyptians. 

3.  The   Egyptians  .  .  .  spirit:     one   of   the   most   remarkable 

204 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


31:5 


And  when  the  Lord  shall  stretch  out  his  hand, 

Both  he  that  helpeth  shall  stumble,  and  he  that 
is  holpen  shall  fall, 
And  they  all  shall  fail  together. 

4.  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  unto  me, 
Like  as  when  the  Hon  growleth, 

And  the  young  lion  over  his  prey, 
If  a  multitude  of  shepherds 

Be  called  forth  against  him. 
He  will  not  be  dismayed  at  their  voice, 

Nor  abase  himself  for  the  noise  of  them  : 
So  shall  the  Lord  of  hosts  come  down 

To  fight  1  upon  mount  Zion,  and  ^  upon    the  hill 
thereof. 

The  Enemy's  Downfall  (31  :  5-9) 

5.  As  birds  flying, 

So  will  the  Lord  of  hosts  protect  Jerusalem  ; 

1  m.  against. 

statements  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  contrast  between  God 
and  man,  the  spiritual  and  the  material,  could  not  be  more  abso- 
lutely stated.  God  is  one,  history  is  the  arena  for  the  exhibition 
of  his  victorious  purpose,  he  and  his  spiritual  order  must  be  trium- 
phant. He  has  but  to  stretch  out  his  omnipotent  hand,  and  all 
human  might  is  laid  low. 

4.  Like  as  when  the  lion  growleth,  etc.  This  is  an  altogether 
glorious  simile,  and  as  daring  as  it  is  glorious,  v^-hen  the  last  clause 
is  correctly  translated ;  so  shall  Jehovah  of  Hosts  come  down  to 
fight  against  (not  upon)  mount  Zion.  Like  a  lion,  Jehovah  will 
hold  Jerusalem  in  his  terrible  grasp  —  the  allusion  is  to  the  Assyr- 
ian siege  —  and  all  the  clamor  of  the  shepherds  (the  Egyptian 
allies)  will  be  powerless  to  scare  him  away. 

31  :  5-9.  This  passage  is  a  foil  to  the  last,  as  30:  27-33  was  to 
30 :  1-17,  and  probably  comes  from  a  later  age. 

5.  The  contrast  between  the  divine  Defender  of  vs.  5  and  the 

205 


31 :  6  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


He  will  protect  it  and  deliver  it 
He  will  pass  over  and  preserve  it. 

6.  Turn  ye  unto  him  from  whom  ^  ye  have  deeply  re- 

7.  volted,  O  children  of  Israel.  For  in  that  day  they 
shall  cast  away  every  man  his  idols  of  silver,  and  his 
idols  of  gold,  which  your  own  hands  have  made  unto 
you  2  for  a  sin. 

8.  Then  shall  the  Assyrian  fall  with  the  sword,  not  of 

man ; 
And  the  sword,  not  of  men,  shall  devour  him : 
And  he  shall  flee  from  the  sword, 

And  his  young  men  shall  become  tributary. 

9.  And  his  rock  shall  pass  away  by  reason  of  terror, 

And  his  princes  shall  be  dismayed  at  the  ensign, 
Saith  the  Lord,  whose  fire  is  in  Zion, 
And  his  furnace  in  Jerusalem. 


m.  from  whom  the  children  of  Israel  have  deeply  revolted.        2  Qj-.  om. 


roaring  Lion  of  vs.  4  is  so  startling  as  to  justify  the  belief  that  the 
original  form  of  the  verse  may  have  been  modified.  After  the 
phrase  like  fluttering  birds,  the  words  that  follow,  as  Marti  suggests, 
may  once  have  been  something  like  —  the  boastful  defenders  (the 
"  wise  "  politicians  and  their  Egyptian  allies)  will  flee  away.  As 
the  verse  now  stands,  pass  over  recalls  the  passover  and  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt  (Exod.  12  :  13). 

6  f.  are  a  call  to  repentance,  which  involves  the  abolition  of 
idolatry  (cf.  30 :  22  and  2  :  20). 

8.  The  x^ssyrian  is  to  perish  in  some  supernatural  way,  and  his 
young  men  shall  be  put  to  taskwork. 

9.  His  rock,  etc.  This  clause,  which  is  obscure,  means  either 
(a)  he  shall  flee  past  his  rock  (that  is,  his  refuge)  for  terror;  or  {b) 
his  rock  (that  is,  the  troops  on  which  he  relied)  will  pass  {i.e. 
vanish)  like  the  chaff  (cf .  29 :  5)  in  terror.  And  his  princes  or 
officers  shall  flee  in  dismay  from  the  standard.  The  fire  and  the 
furnace  probably  refer  to  the  pyre  prepared  for  the  enemy 
(30:33)- 

206 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  32:5 


Rulers  and  People  in  the  Coming  Days  (32  : 1-8) 

32.  Behold,  a  king  shall  reign  in  righteousness, 
And  princes  shall  rule  in  judgement. 

2.  And  a  man  shall  be  as  an  hiding  place  from  the  wind, 

And  a  covert  from  the  tempest ; 
As  rivers  of  water  in  ^  a  dry  place, 

As  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land. 

3.  2  And  the  eyes  of  them  that  see  shall  not  be  ^  dim. 

And  the  ears  of  them  that  hear  shall  hearken. 

4.  The  heart  also  of  the  ^  rash  shall  understand  knowledge. 

And  the  tongue  of  the  stammerers  shall  be  ready  to 
speak  plainly. 

5.  The  ^  vile  person  shall  no  more  be  called  ^  liberal, 

Nor  the  churl  said  to  be  bountiful. 


1  Gr.  Zion.  2  Gr.  and  they  shall  no  more  put  confidence  in  men.  ^  m.  closed.  *  Heb. 
hasty.     5  m.  SV  fool.     '>  m.  SV  tioble. 

Chap.  32.  This  chapter,  whether  Isaiah's  or  not,  presents, 
except  in  vss.  9-14,  a  fine  picture  of  the  blessed  days  to  come,  in 
which  just  government,  pure  religion,  and  general  prosperity 
will  prevail. 

I  f.  The  government.  The  government,  ruling  in  justice,  will 
be  a  welcome  contrast  to  the  corrupt  nobility  so  often  alluded  to  in 
Chaps.  28-31.  A  man,  i.e.  each  man,  each  ruler,  will  be  a  source 
of  protection  and  comfort  to  those  in  danger  or  distress.  The 
political  leaders  will  be  men  of  character,  strong  and  just. 

The  People  (vss.  3-5).  3  f.  Dim:  read  with  margin,  closed. 
In  the  people  there  will  be  religious  responsiveness,  in  place  of 
their  former  callousness  (6  :  10;  29  :  9).  Rashness  will  give  place 
to  wise  and  careful  deliberation ;  and  decisions,  when  reached, 
will  be  expressed  in  language  clear  and  ready. 

5.  Things  and  people  will  be  called  by  their  right  names  —  a 
nobleman  must  be  a  noble  man,  and  a  gentleman  a  gentle  man. 
These  great  words  must  not  be  applied  to  aristocrats  and  others 
who  do  not  deserve  them.  The  fool  who  ignores  God  (cf.  Ps.  14  :  i) 
shall  no  more  be  called  noble,  nor  the  fraudulent  successful  man  any 
more  named  fortunate  (cf.  G.  A.  Smith). 

207 


32:6  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


6.  For  the  vile  person  will  speak  villany, 

And  his  heart  will  ^  work  iniquity, 
To  practise  profaneness, 

And  to  utter  error  against  the  Lord, 
To  make  empty  the  soul  of  the  hungry, 

And  to  cause  the  drink  of  the  thirsty  to  fail. 

7.  The  instruments  also  of  the  churl  are  evil : 

He  deviseth  wicked  devices 
To  destroy  the  -  meek  with  lying  words, 
Even  when  the  needy  speaketh  right. 

8.  But  the  liberal  deviseth  Hberal  things  ; 

And  ^  in  liberal  things  shall  he  continue. 

Warning  to  the  Women  (32  : 9-14) 

9.  Rise  up,  ye  women  that  are  at  ease, 

And  hear  my  voice  ; 
Ye  *  careless  daughters, 
Give  ear  unto  my  speech. 
10.  For  days  beyond  a  year 

Shall  ye  be  troubled,  ye  careless  women  : 

1  Gr.  Tar.  devise.      ^  m.  poor.      '  m,  j_y  Uheral  things  shall  he  stand,      *  Heb.  confident. 

6-8  is  a  little  excursus,  in  the  style  of  the  proverbs,  on  the  fool 
SLud  the  fraudulent  (or  knave).  What  we  have  in  vss.  6  f.  is  a  de- 
scription of  the  practical  atheist  (fool)  whose  irrehgion  leads  him 
to  cruelty,  injustice  —  in  brief,  to  immorahty.  In  contrast  with 
him  is  the  noble  man  (vs.  8)  who  backs  up  noble  intentions  by 
noble  deeds. 

32:9-14.  This  warning  and  announcement  of  doom,  which 
interrupts  the  description  of  the  coming  days,  recalls  3:  16-4:  i. 
Here,  as  there,  it  is  aristocratic  women  (cf.  vs.  14)  who  are  threat- 
ened. 

9.  Careless  —  confident  (cf.  margin)  in  a  bad  sense.  In  its 
good  sense,  confidence  is  the  very  quality  for  which  Isaiah  had 
pled  in  the  great  passage  30 :  15. 

10-13.  ^or  days  beyond  a  year:  rather,  in  a  little  (a  few  days) 
208 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  32 :  15 


For  the  vintage  shall  fail, 
The  ingathering  shall  not  come. 

11.  Tremble,  ^  ye  women  that  are  at  ease  ; 

Be  troubled,  ye  careless  ones  : 
Strip  you,  and  make  you  bare. 

And  gird  sackcloth  upon  your  loins. 

12.  They  shall  smite  upon  the  breasts 
For  the  pleasant  fields. 

For  the  fruitful  vine 

13.  Upon  the  land  of  my  people 

Shall  come  up  thorns  and  briers  ; 
Yea,  upon  all  the  houses  of  joy 
In  the  joyous  city  : 

14.  For  the  palace  shall  be  forsaken  ; 

The  populous  city  shall  be  deserted  ; 
2  The  hill  and  the  watch-tower  shall  be  dens  for  ever, 
A  joy  of  wild  asses,  a  pasture  of  flocks. 

The  Security  and  Prosperity  of  the  Coming  Days 
(32  :  15-20) 


15.  Until  the  spirit  be  poured 
Upon  us  from  on  high, 


Gr.  om.        2  m.  Ophel. 


more  than  a  year.  The  vintage  and  the  fruit  would  not  be  gathered, 
in  consequence  of  the  devastation  of  the  land  by  the  enemy. 
For  this  devastation,  the  women  are  called  upon  to  show  every 
sign  of  mourning. 

14.  The  reference  to  the  palace,  and  the  hill  (Hebrew  Ophel, 
the  southeastern  spur  of  mount  Zion  on  which  palace  and  temple 
stood)  shows  that  the  women  are  aristocrats.  Those  palatial 
quarters  were  doomed  to  be  an  everlasting  desolation,  over  which 
the  wild  ass  would  roam. 

32:  15-20.  This  Messianic  picture  is  related  to  the  preceding 
threat  against  the  women,  much  as  4  :  2-6  is  related  to  3  :  16-4 :  i, 


209 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  the  wilderness  become  a  fruitful  field, 

And  the  fruitful  field  be  counted  for  a  forest. 

1 6.  Then  ^  judgement  shall  dwell  in  the  wilderness, 

And  righteousness  shall  abide  in  the  fruitful  field. 

17.  And  the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace; 

And  the  effect  of  righteousness  quietness  and  con- 
fidence for  ever. 

18.  And  my  people  shall  abide  in  a  peaceable  habitation, 

And  in  sure  dwelhngs,  and  in  quiet  resting  places, 

19.  But  it  shall  hail,  in  the  downfall  of  the  forest ; 

And  the  city  shall  be  utterly  laid  low. 

20.  Blessed  are  ye  that  sow  beside  all  waters. 

That  send  forth  the  feet  of  the  ox  and  the  ass. 


1  SY  justice. 


but  it  connects  rather  with  vss.  1-5  than  with  9-14,  where  the 
desolation  is  said  to  be  forever,  and  consequently  such  a  hope  as  is 
here  held  out  is  excluded.  Perhaps  until  was  added  to  connect 
the  two  passages. 

15.  The  spirit  which  is  poured  from  on  high  transforms  both 
the  land  and  the  people.  The  fertile  field  is  so  thick  sown  with 
trees  as  to  look  like  a.  forest  (cf.  29:  17).  The  marvellous  fruit- 
fulness  of  the  land  is  a  frequent  trait  in  these  descriptions  (cf.  4:2). 

16.  Justice  will  reign  everywhere,  even  in  the  wilderness,  where 
lawlessness  is  wont  to  prevail  (Gen.  16  :  12). 

17.  This  all-prevailing  justice  will  produce  a  sense  of  security, 
very  different  from  the  false  security  of  vs.  9.  In  the  second  clause 
read :  and  the  efect  of  justice  shall  be  everlasting  confideyice. 

19.  This  verse,  whose  first  clause  should  perhaps  read.  And 
down  will  come  the  forest  with  a  downfall,  rather  curiously  interrupts 
the  context.  The  forest  is  apparently  the  hostile  world  power 
(cf.  10 :  33  f.)  and  the  city  its  capital  city  (25:2;  26:5);  unless 
the  proper  place  of  the  verse  is  after  vs.  14,  in  which  case  the  city 
would  be  Jerusalem. 

20.  Everywhere  the  land  is  well-watered  (30:  25),  and  the  ox 
and  the  ass  may  be  sent  forth  to  pasture,  with  nothing  to  fear 
from  wild  beasts  (11  :  6-8). 

This  idyllic  picture  of  agricultural  peace  and  prosperity,  fol- 
lowing upon  the  establishment  of  a  just  government,  powerfully 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


33:2 


The   Present   Distress   and   the   Future  Glory  of 
Jerusalem  (Ch.  ^,2)) 

The  Distress  (33  :  1-9) 

33.  Woe  to  thee  that  spoilest,  and  thou  wast  not  spoiled ; 
And    dealest    treacherously,    and    they    dealt    not 
treacherously  with  thee  ! 
When  thou  hast  ceased  to  spoil,  thou  shalt  be  spoiled  ; 
And  when  thou  hast  made  an  end  to  deal  treach- 
erously, they  shall  deal  treacherously  with  thee. 

2.  O  Lord,  be  gracious  unto  us  ; 
We  have  waited  for  thee  : 
Be  thou  ^  their  arm  every  morning, 

Our  salvation  also  in  the  time  of  trouble. 

1  Tar.  S3T.  Vg.  our. 

recalls  II  :  i-8,  where  the  very  same  sequence  is  observable  (vss. 
1-5  and  6-8).  The  ideal  exhibited  in  this  chapter  is  very  at- 
tractive. Its  background  is  country  Hfe,  and  its  basis  is  a  just 
government.  Character  counts  for  much.  The  king  and  his 
officers  are  strong,  just  men,  the  people  are  keenly  alive  to 
moral  distinctions,  justice  and  honor  prevail  even  in  the  remoter 
parts  of  the  land,  the  land  itself  is  a  very  garden,  and  even  the 
animals^  share  in  the  glad  sense  of  security  enjoyed  by  the  people. 
Chap.  33.  With  increasing  confidence  this  chapter  is  being  rele- 
gated, on  the  strength  of  its  language  and  its  thought,  to  the 
postexihc  period,  though  its  precise  place  there  is  difficult  to 
determine.  Whatever  be  its  origin,  it  forms  a  very  striking  and 
eloquent  conclusion  to  the  group  in  which  it  occurs  (Chaps.  28-33), 
summarizing  as  it  does  the  deep  sorrow  and  the  radiant  hopes 
expressed  elsewhere  in  this  section. 

1.  Woe  :   cf.  28  :  I ;    29  :  i,  etc. 

Woe,  thou  spoiler  —  thyself  not  despoiled; 
Thou  robber,  when  none  has  robbed  thee. 

Who  is  meant  by  the  spoiler  and  the  robber  will  depend  upon  the 
date  —  in  any  case,  some  oppressor  of  Israel ;  and  sure  nemesis 
awaits  him. 

2.  An  interjected  prayer.     Their  arm;  perhaps  our  arm. 

211 


33-3 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


3.  At  the  noise  of  the  tumult  the  peoples  are  fled ; 

At  the  Hfting  up  of  thyself  the  nations  are  scattered. 

4.  And  your  spoil  shall  be  gathered  as  the  caterpillar 

gathereth : 
As  locusts  leap  shall  they  leap  upon  it. 

5.  The  Lord  is  exalted  ;  for  he  dwelleth  on  high  : 

He  hath  filled  Zion  with  judgement  and  righteousness, 

6.  And  there  shall  be  stabihty  in  thy  times,  abundance 

of  salvation, 
Wisdom  and  knowledge  :  the  fear  of  the  Lord  ^  is  his 
treasure. 

7.  Behold,  their  valiant  ones  cry  without : 

The  ambassadors  of  peace  weep  bitterly. 

8.  The  high  ways  lie  waste. 

The  wayfaring  man  ceaseth  : 
He  hath  broken  the  covenant,  he  hath  despised  the  cities, 
He  regardeth  not  man. 

9.  The  land  mourneth  and  languisheth : 

Lebanon  is  ashamed  and  withereth  away  : 


1  Gr.  these  are  the  treasures  of  righteousness. 


3  f.  The  tumult  is  that  of  the  divine  judgment.  Jehovah,  who 
has  routed  and  scattered  the  nations  before,  can  and  will  do  so 
again.  For  yoiu:  spoil  read  simply  spoil.  Shall  be  gathered,  i.e. 
by  the  Jews.     Shall  they  leap,  i.e.  the  Jews. 

5  f.  Jehovah,  as  the  transcendent  God  (on  high),  has  made  Jeru- 
salem a  treasure-house  of  spiritual  blessings  —  righteousness 
(cf.  1 :  26),  wisdom,  and  religion.  For  his  treasure,  read  its  {i.e. 
Zion's)  treasure. 

7-9.  Despite  the  spiritual  glory  described  (or,  as  some  say, 
predicted)  in  5  f.,  the  present  situation  is  very  terrible.  The 
Jews  have  suffered  in  some  grievous  way  from  the  treachery  and 
arrogant  cruelty  of  the  foe,  and  nature  is  conceived  as  mourning 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Sharon  is  like  ^  a  desert : 
And  Bashan  and  Carmel  shake  off  their  leaves. 

The  Deliverance  {^t^  :  10-24) 

10.  "Now  will  I  arise,"  saith  the  Lord  ; 

"Now  will  I  Hft  up  myself ;  now  will  I  be  exalted. 

11.  Ye  shall  conceive  chaff,  ye  shall  bring  forth  stubble: 

Your  breath  is  a  fire  that  shall  devour  you. 

12.  And  the  peoples  shall  be  as  the  burnings  of  hme  : 

As  thorns  cut  down,  that  are  burned  in  the  fire. 

13.  ^.Hear,  ye  that  are  afar  off,  what  I  have  done; 

And,  ye  that  are  near,  acknowledge  my  might." 

14.  The  sinners  in  Zion  are  afraid ; 

Trembling  hath  surprised  the  godless  ones. 
"Who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  the  devouring  fire? 
Who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  everlasting  burnings  ? 

1  m.  the  Arahah.  2  Gr.  they  that  are  afar  of  shall  hear  .  .  .  and  they  that  are  near 
shall  acknowledge. 

in  sympathy  (cf.  24:  4).  Sharon,  the  plain  between  Carmel  and 
Joppa.  Bashan  (north  of  Gilead)  and  mount  Carmel,  i.e.  the 
trees  in  Bashan  and  on  Carmel. 

ia-12.  Jehovah's  answer  to  the  lament  invss.  7-9.  Now,  three 
times  —  emphatic;  dehverance  is  very  near.  Vs.  11  pictorially 
describes  the  ultimate  futility  of  the  efforts  of  the  foe  —  the  last 
clause  perhaps  reading  my  breath  shall  devour  you  like  fire,  which 
will  burn  them  as  if  to  Ihfte  (vs.  12). 

13,  14a.  This  signal  judgment  will  astonish  the  whole  world, 
and  terrify  the  sinners  in  Zion,  i.e.  the  unfaithiul  Jews.  Read 
(with  the  Greek  version) : 

Those  thai  are  afar  of  shall  hear  what  I  have  done,^ 
And  those  that  are  near  shall  acknowledge  my  might. 

14b.  Who  among  us  shall  dwell,  etc. :  the  terrified  cry  of  the 
sinners  in  Zion,  as  they  watch  the  impending  judgment.  The 
devouring  fire  and  everlasting  burnings  indicate  the  presence  of 

213 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


15.  He  that  walketh  righteously,  and  speaketh  uprightly, 

He  that  despiseth  the  gain  of  oppressions, 
That  shaketh  his  hands  from  holding  of  bribes, 

That  stoppeth  his  ears  from  hearing  of  blood, 
And  shutteth  his  ears  from  looking  upon  evil : 

16.  He  shall  dwell  on  high  : 

His  place  of  defence  shall  be  the  munitions  of  rocks  : 
His  bread   shall  be   given  hhn;    his   waters  shall 
be  sure. 

17.  Thine  eyes  shall  see  the  king  in  his  beauty  : 

They  shall  behold  ^  a  far  stretching  land. 

18.  Thine  heart  shall  muse  on  the  terror  : 

Where  is  he  that  counted,  where  is  he  that  weighed 
the  tribute? 

1  Heb.  a  land  of  far  distances. 

Jehovah,  who  appears  in  fire  (Deut.  5  :  24-26),  protecting  the  faith- 
ful (Isa.  4 :  5)  and  destroying  the  wicked. 

15  f.  The  elaborate  answer  to  the  question  in  vs.  14  powerfully 
recalls  the  description  of  the  good  man  in  Pss.  15  and  24.  Though 
more  vigorous  than  those  psalms,  it  is  no  doubt  modelled  on  them, 
and  probably  in  its  original  form  contained  only  the  first  two 
clauses.  The  man  who  walketh  righteously  and  speaketh  up- 
rightly is  compared  to  one  who  is  safe  within  a  high  rock  fortress, 
inaccessible  and  well-provisioned.  The  assailants,  the  judgment, 
cannot  touch  or  terrify  him. 

17.  Of  those  glorious  days,  the  king  (whether  the  Messianic 
king,  or,  as  in  vs.  22,  Jehovah  himself)  and  the  far-stretching  land 
(recaUing  in  its  extent  the  ancient  Davidic  kingdom)  are  neces- 
sary features. 

18.  The  terror,  that  is  now  forever  past  and  nothing  but  a 
memory,  was  the  sight  of  the  hated  foreign  tyrant,  who  counted 
and  weighed  the  tribute  which  unhappy  Jerusalem,  in  her  subjec- 
tion, had  to  pay  into  his  hands.  Where  is  he  that  counted  the 
towers?  apparently  with  a  view  to  attack.  But,  as  this  is  not 
very  satisfactory  in  the  context,  Cheyne  has  emended  the  verse  to 
mean:  Where  are  the  tablet-writers?  Where  are  the  measuring 
clerks  ? 

214 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  33^22 


Where  is  he  that  counted  the  towers  ? 

19.  Thou  shalt  not  see  the  fierce  people, 

A  people  of  a  deep  speech  that  thou  canst  not  perceive  ; 
Of  a  strange  tongue  that  thou  canst  not  understand. 

20.  Look  upon  Zion,  the  .city  of  our  ^  solemnities  : 
Thine  eyes  shall  see  Jerusalem 

A  quiet  habitation,  a  tent  that  shall  not  be  removed, 
The  stakes  whereof  shall  never  be  plucked  up, 
Neither  shall  any  of  the  cords  thereof  be  broken. 

21.2  But  there  the  Lord  will  be  with  us  in  majesty, 
A  place  of  broad  rivers  and  streams  ; 
Wherein  shall  go  no  galley  with  oars, 
Neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass  thereby. 

22.  For  the  Lord  is  our  judge. 
The  Lord  is  our  lawgiver, 


even 


u   set  feasts.     2  Gr.  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  is  great  to  you;  ye  shall  have  a  place, 
rivers  and  broad  aitd  spacious  channels.     Thou  shalt  not  go  this  way,  neither  shall 


vessel  with  oars  pass  by. 


19.  The  insolent  foreign  oppressors,  with  their  unintelligible 
jargon,  would  be  seen  no  more. 

20.  Jerusalem  would  henceforth  enjoy  permanent  security, 
never  again  being  compelled  to  travel  into  exile ;  not  like  a  tent 
that  is  taken  down  and  moved,  but  a  city  that  abides  (Heb.  1 1  :  9  f .) . 

21.  There  is  a  magnificent  haunting  music  about  the  EngHsh 
words  of  this  verse,  though  the  Hebrew  appears  to  need  some  slight 
emendation,  and  the  precise  meaning  of  the  latter  half  of  the  verse 
is  not  certain.  The  general  sense,  however,  is  clear.  The  unseen 
river  of  Jehovah,  whose  praises  are  so  splendidly  sung  in  Ps.  46, 
is  the  real  defence  of  Jerusalem,  mightier  far  than  the  broad 
streams,  for  example,  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  (cf.  Isa.  8  :  6  f.). 
Perhaps  the  first  two  clauses  originally  ran  somewhat  as  follows : 

There  we  shall  have  the  river  of  Jehovah, 

A  (or  in)  place  of  hroad  encompassing  streams. 

(Cheyne.) 

215 


23 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Lord  is  our  King  ; 
He  will  save  us. 

23.  Thy  tacklings  are  loosed ; 

They  could  not  strengthen  the  foot  of  their  mast, 
They  could  not  spread  the  sail. 

Then  was  the  prey  of  a  great  spoil  divided ; 
The  lame  took  the  prey. 

24.  And  the  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  "I  am  sick"  ; 

The  people  that  dwell  therein  shall  be  forgiven  their 
iniquity. 


The  passage  forcibly  recalls  Ezek.  47  :  1-12  ;  in  that  case  Jehovah's 
river  may  itself  be  a  place  of  broad  streams.  Or  the  meaning 
may  be  that  this  gentle  stream  (Isa.  8:6)  is  in  place  of  the  broad 
streams  of  other  earthly  rivers.  In  it  no  ships  will  be  seen. 
Jehovah  is  our  king,  He  will  save  us  (vss.  22) ;  and  such  a  people 
needs  not  the  defence  of  warships. 

23  f.  Thy  tacklings  .  .  .  the  sail.  These  three  clauses,  de- 
scribing a  helpless  ship  upon  the  sea,  appear  to  have  crept  in, 
under  the  influence  of  the  imagery  in  vs.  21,  from  some  other 
source.  Then  .  .  .  prey.  These  clauses,  which  should  perhaps 
read : 

Then  will  the  blind  divide  spoil  in  abundance, 
A  nd  the  lame  seize  the  prey, 

reaffirm  the  hope  of  vs.  4.  Saved  by  Jehovah  (vs.  22),  the  Jews 
will  be  triumphant,  healed,  and  forgiven. 


216 


THE    GOLDEN  AGE  (Chaps.  34,  35) 
The  Day  of  Vengeance  (Chap.  34)  34 

The  Destruction  of  the  Nations  (34 :  1-4) 

34.  Come  near,  ye  nations,  to  hear  ; 
And  hearken,  ye  peoples  : 
Let  the  earth  hear,  and  the  fulness  thereof ; 
The  world,  and  all  things  that  come  forth  of  it. 

2.  For  the  Lord  hath  indignation  against  all  the  nations, 
And  fury  against  all  their  host : 
He  hath  ^  utterly  destroyed  them, 
He  hath  delivered  them  to  the  slaughter. 

1  Heb.  put  them  under  the  ban. 

Chaps.  34  and  35.  These  brilliant  chapters,  exuberant  alike 
in  their  hatred  of  Edom  and  in  their  affection  for  Judah,  were 
probably  set  here  as  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the  first  great  section 
of  the  book  of  Isaiah  (Chaps.  1-35).  The  passage  may  be  very 
late,  and  in  any  case  must  be  post-exihc,  as  it  shows  dependence 
upon  the  latter  half  of  the  book  of  Isaiah  (40  £f.),  and  also  upon 
Chaps.  13  f.  In  spite,  however,  of  its  literary  dependence,  it  is 
written  with  an  impetuosity  and  a  glow  which  have  few  parallels 
in  prophecy. 

Chap.  34.  Here,  as  frequentl}^,  though  not  always,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  the  golden  age  has  two  aspects:  it  involves  not  only 
the  happiness  of  the  Jews,  but  also  the  complete  destruction  of  all 
that  is  opposed  to  Zion.  Of  the  hostile  nations  Edom  was  the 
most  detested,  and  upon  her  most  of  the  writer's  passionate  ha- 
tred is  poured. 

I  f.  The  nations  are  summoned  to  their  destruction,  and  no 
reason  is  assigned  for  the  divine  indignation.  It  is  enough  that 
the  world  as  a  whole  is  conceived  as  hostile  to  Judah,  and  all  that 
Judah  stands  for  ;  no  doubt  bitter  historical  experiences  lie  behind 
such  a  conception.  The  fulness  of  the  earth,  and  all  things  that 
come  forth  of  it,  are  phrases  for  the  men  upon  it. 

217 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


3.  Their  slain  also  shall  be  cast  out, 

And  the  stink  of  their  carcasses  shall  come  up, 
And  the  mountains  shall  be  melted  with  their  blood. 

4.  And  all  the  host  of  heaven  shall  be  dissolved. 

And  the  heavens  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll : 

And  all  their  host  shall  fade  away. 
As  the  leaf  fadeth  from  off  the  vine, 
And  as  a  fading  leaf  from  the  fig  tree. 

The  Destruction  of  Edom  (34  :  5-17) 


For  my  sword  hath  drunk 
Its  fill  in  heaven  : 


3  f .  Slain,  they  will  lie  unburied.  It  is  a  gruesome  picture  — 
smelling  corpses,  and  mountains  drenched  with  blood.  The  first 
clause  of  vs.  4  should  probably  parallel  the  last  clause  of  vs.  3, 
thus: 

The  mountains  shall  melt  with  their  blood, 
And  all  the  hills  shall  dissolve. 

The  heavens  shall  be  rolled,  etc.  :  the  physical  world  is  involved 
in  the  catastrophe  (cf.  24:  19  f.). 

34:  5-17.  The  hatred  of  the  foreign  world,  with  which  the  first 
four  verses  are  charged,  concentrates  itself  upon  Edom.  The 
feud  between  Edom  and  Israel  was  of  very  ancient  origin  (cf. 
Gen.  25:  22-26),  but  it  was  raised  to  fever  heat  by  Edom's  cruel 
treatment  of  Israel  when  Jerusalem  fell  and  her  people  were  taken 
into  exile  (Ezek.  25:  12;  Ps.  137)  —  cruelty  which  Israel  never 
forgot  or  forgave ;  and  the  hostility  was  fomented  by  subsequent 
Edomite  encroachments  upon  Judaean  territory.  These  facts 
help  to  explain  the  bitterness  of  this  passage  and  the  almost  fierce 
delight  with  which  the  writer  contemplates  the  ruin  of  Edom. 

5.  The  vs.  should  perhaps  run  : 

For  already  drunk  with  his  wrath 

Is  the  sword  of  Jehovah  in  heaven, 
Behold,  it  descends  upon  Edom, 

For  judgment  —  upon  the  folk  of  his  ban. 

For  the  ban,  cf.  Deut.  3  :  6. 

218 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  34:10 


Behold,  it  shall  come  down  upon  Edom, 
And  upon  the  people  of  my  ^  curse,  to  judgement. 

6.  The  sword  of  the  Lord  is  filled  with  blood, 

It  is  made  fat  with  fatness. 
With  the  blood  of  lambs  and  goats. 
With  the  fat  of  the  kidneys  of  rams  : 

For  the  Lord  hath  a  sacrifice  in  ^  Bozrah, 
And  a  great  slaughter  in  the  land  of  Edom. 

7.  And  the  wild-oxen  shall  ^  come  down  with  them, 

And  the  bullocks  with  the  bulls  ; 

And  their  land  shall  be  drunken  with  blood, 
And  their  dust  made  fat  with  fatness. 

8.  For  it  is  the  day  of  the  Lord's  vengeance, 

The  year  of  recompence  in  the  controversy  of  Zion. 

9.  And  the  streams  thereof  shall  be  turned  into  pitch. 

And  the  dust  thereof  into  brimstone, 
And  the  land  thereof  -^^ 

Shall  become  burning  pitch. 

10.  It  shall  not  be  quenched  night  nor  day ; 

The  smoke  thereof  shall  go  up  for  ever  :  Rev.  19 : 3 

From  generation  to  generation  it  shall  lie  waste  ; 
None  shall  pass  through  it  for  ever  and  ever. 

2  Heb.  ban.        3  Qr.  Bosor.        *  Gr.  fall  down. 

6  f.  The  Edomites  are  compared  to  sacrificial  animals,  the  ani- 
mals of  vs.  6  representing  the  common  people,  those  of  vs.  7  the 
leaders.     Bozrah,  one  of  Edom's  chief  cities. 

9  f.  A  fearful  picture  —  Edom  will  be  a  sort  of  hell.  The  im- 
agery recalls  the  story  of  Sodom  (Gen.  19 :  24  f.). 

219 


34:  II  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


11.  But  the  pelican  and  the  porcupine  shall  possess  it; 

And  the  owl  and  the  raven  shall  dwell  therein  : 
And  he  shall  stretch  over  it 

The  Une  of  confusion  and  the  ^  plummet  of  emptiness. 

12.  2  They  shall  call  the  nobles  thereof  to  the  kingdom, 
But  none  shall  be  there  ; 

And  all  her  princes  shall  be  nothing. 

13.  And  thorns  shall  come  up  in  her  palaces, 

Nettles  and  thistles  in  the  fortresses  thereof  : 
And  it  shall  be  an  habitation  of  jackals, 
A  court  for  ostriches, 

14.  And  the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  meet  with  the 

^  wolves. 
Rev.  18:2  And  the  ^  satyr  shall  cry  to  his  fellow  ; 

Yea,  ^  the  night  monster  shall  settle  there, 
And  shall  find  her  a  place  of  rest. 

iHeb.  stones,  ^va.  as  for  her  nobles,  none  shall  he  there  to  proclaim  the  kingdom; 
Gr.  satyrs  shall  dwell  therein,  her  rulers  shall  be  no  more,  for  her  kings  and  her  great  men 
hall  be  destroyed.     ^  Heb.  howling  creatures.     ^  m.  he-goat ;  SV  wild  goat,   s  Heb.  Liliths. 

11.  With  this  picture  of  the  fiery  land,  the  following  vss., 
describing  the  desolation  of  Edom  are,  strictly  speaking,  incon- 
sistent. They  combine  to  intensify  the  horror  of  Edom's  fate. 
Confusion  and  emptiness  are  the  words  used  in  Gen.  i  :  2  to  de- 
scribe primeval  chaos.  The  words  line  and  plummet  (lit.  stones), 
strictly  applicable  to  building,  are  here  used  to  suggest  the  inexo- 
rable thoroughness  of  the  destruction. 

12.  This  verse,  which  is  metrically  defective,  may  thus  be  re- 
stored with  the  help  of  the  Greek  version : 

Satyrs  shall  dwell  therein, 

Its  nobles  shall  be  no  more; 
There  will  be  no  kingdom  there  to  proclaim. 

And  all  its  princes  shall  pass  away. 

13.  Cf.  13:  21  f. 

14.  Satyr,  a  demon  in  the  form  of  a  wild  goat  (cf.  SV).     The 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


15.  There  shall  the  arrowsnake  make  her  nest,  and  lay, 

And  hatch,  and  gather  under  her  shadow  ; 
Yea,  there  shall  the  kites  be  gathered, 
Every  one  with  her  mate. 

16.  Seek  ye  out  of  the  book  of  the  Lord,  and  read : 

No  one  of  these  shall  be  missing. 
None  shall  want  her  mate  : 
For  ^  m.y  mouth  it  hath  commanded, 
And  his  spirit  it  hath  gathered  them. 

17.  And  he  hath  cast  the  lot  for  them, 

And  his  hand  hath  divided  it  unto  them  by  Hne  : 
They  sh?Jl  possess  it  for  ever, 
From   generation   to   generation   shall   they   dwell 
therein. 

The  Joy  of  the  Redeemed  (Ch.  35) 

35.  The  wilderness  and  ^  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad ; 
And  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and  blossom. 

1  Gr.  the  Lord.        ^  nj    parched  land. 


night-monster,  Liliih,  a  demon  of  the  night,  which  was  supposed 
to  persecute  sleepers,  slay  children,  etc. 

15.  For  gather  under  her  shadow,  read  brood  over  her  eggs 
(Duhm). 

16.  The  Book  of  Jehovah,  if  it  does  not  point  to  a  large  and 
practical  canonical  collection  of  prophecies,  appears  at  least  to 
include  the  iirst  section  of  Isaiah  (Chaps.  1-35),  of  which  this 
oracle  on  Edom  forms  a  part.  The  writer  virtually  means  that 
the  time  will  come  when  all  that  is  predicted  for  Edom  will  have 
been  demonstrably  fulfilled.  For  my  mouth,  read  the  mouth  of 
Jehovah.  Omit  nou.e  shall  want  her  mate,  which  appears  to  be  but 
a  variant  to  vs.  i5d. 

17.  Jehovah  had  assigned  Edom  to  those  weird  animals  as  surely 
and  deliberately  as  he  had  once  assigned  Canaan  to  Israel. 


35:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


As  the  ^  rose  it  shall  blossom  abundantly, 
And  rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing. 

2.  The  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  be  given  unto  it, 

The  excellency  of  Carmel  and  Sharon  : 
They  shall  see  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
The  excellency  of  our  God. 

3.  Strengthen  ye  the  weak  hands, 

And  confirm  the  feeble  knees. 

4.  Say  to  them  that  are  of  a  ^  fearful  heart, 

Be  strong,  fear  not : 

Behold,  your  God 

Will  come  with  vengeance, 
With  the  recompence  of  God ; 

He  will  come  and  save  you. 

5.  Then  the  eyes  of  the  bhnd  shall  be  opened. 

And  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall  be  unstopped. 

6.  Then  shall  the  lame  man  leap  as  an  hart. 

And  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  shall  sing : 

For  in  the  wilderness  shall  waters  break  out, 
And  streams  in  the  desert. 

1  m.  autumn  crocus.        ^  Heb.  hasty. 

Chap.  35.  Against  the  destruction  of  the  nations  and  the  deso- 
lation of  Edom,  the  joy  of  Judah  stands  out  the  more  conspicuous 
and  radiant. 

I  f .  Nature  will  be  transformed.  The  rose  —  some  pretty- 
meadow  flower,  seen  on  the  plains  of  Sharon  (33  :  9;  Song  2:1). 
They  shall  see :  they,  the  despondent  Jews  addressed  in  vss.  3f. 

3  f .  The  despondent  are  encouraged ;  the  avenging  God  (34 :  8) 
will  assuredly  come.   • 

5  f .  The  blind :  the  transformation  in  men  will  be  not  only 
spiritual  (cf.  3  f.)  but  physical  (cf.  Mat.  11:5). 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


7.  And  the  ^  glowing  sand  shall  become  a  pool, 

And  the  thirsty  ground  springs  of  water. 

2  In  the  habitation  of  jackals,  where  they  lay, 
Shall  be  ^  grass  with  reeds  and  rushes. 

8.  ^  And  a  high  way  shall  be  there,  and  a  way. 

And  it  shall  be  called  The  Way  of  HoUness ; 
The  unclean  shall  not  pass  over  it ; 

^  But  it  shall  be  for  those  :  the  wayfaring  men, 
Yea,  fools  shall  not  err  therein. 


10. 


No  Hon  shall  be  there. 

Nor  shall  any  ravenous  beast  go  up  thereon, 
They  shall  not  be  found  there  ; 
But  the  redeemed  shall  walk  there  : 

And  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return. 


im.  mirage.  2  Gr.  there  shall  be  the  joy  of  birds.  ^  m.  Gr.  a  court  for,  cf.  34:  13. 
♦  Gr.  a  pure  highway  shall  be  there,  s  Gr.  wo  unclean  way  shall  be  there,  but  the  dis- 
persed shall  walk  upon  it,  and  they  shall  not  go  astray. 


7.  Again  the  transformation  of  nature  (cf.  i  f.).  The  last  half 
of  the  verse,  which  is  defective,  has  been  restored  as  follows : 

In  the  haunt  of  jackals  and  hycenas, 

Your  herds  shall  rest: 
And  the  court  for  ostriches 

Will  he  filled  with  reeds  and  rushes. 

8  f.  And  a  highway  .  .  .  and  a  way:  the  Greek  version  reads, 
perhaps  correctly,  and  a  pure  highway  shall  he  there.  This  is  the 
way  that  leads  to  Zion,  and  upon  it  the  faithful  pilgrims  travel. 
The  clause,  but  it  shall  be  for  those :  the  wayfaring  men,  has 
every  appearance  in  the  Hebrew  of  being  a  gloss,  and  should  be 
deleted.  The  fools  are  the  godless  (cf.  Ps.  14:  i);  they  must  err 
(cf.  32  :  6),  wander  elsewhere;  this  holy  way  is  not  for  them,  it  is 
for  the  redeemed. 

10.  By  this  way  the  redeemed  and  ransomed  of  Jehovah  will 
return  to  Zion  —  there  to  abide  —  from  the  foreign  lands  in  which 

223 


35:  10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  come  with  singing  unto  Zion  ; 

And  everlasting  joy  shall  be  upon  their  heads: 
They  shall  obtain  gladness  and  joy, 

And  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away. 


they  had  been  scattered.  Upon  their  heads :  some  ornament 
must  have  been  worn  on  the  head  as  a  symbol  of  gladness.  For 
they  shall  obtain,  etc.,  read  joy  and  gladness  shall  overtake  them. 
While  sorrow  flees  from  them,  joy  runs  up  and  overtakes  them  —  a 
striking  and  beautiful  contrast. 

This  chapter  constitutes  the  brilliant  climax  of  the  first  great 
division  of  the  book  of  Isaiah.  It  is  the  outpouring  of  the  heart 
of  one  who  was  at  once  patriot  and  poet ;  and,  in  the  golden  days 
to  which  he  looked  forward  from  out  a  too  sorrowful  present,  he 
saw  the  desolations  of  nature  and  the  pains  and  sorrows  of  human- 
ity transformed,  with  Zion  as  the  capital  of  the  world,  and  the 
road  that  led  to  her  trod  by  the  happy  feet  of  pilgrims  and  of  the 
redeemed. 


224 


HISTORICAL   APPENDIX   (Chaps.  36-39) 

Isaiah  encourages  Hezekiah  to  resist  Sennacherib's        36  - 1 
Summons  to  surrender  Jerusalem  (Chaps.  36  f.) 

First  Narrative  (36  :  1-37  :9  a,  37  f.) 

36.  Now  it  came  to  pass  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  king 
Hezekiah,  that  Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  came  up 
against  all  the  fenced  cities  of  Judah,  and  took  them. 

Chaps.  36-39.  The  stories  of  Elijah  and  Elisha  and  other 
briefer  sections  in  the  book  of  Kings  show  that  from  compara- 
tively early  times  the  profoundest  interest  was  taken  in  the 
careers  of  the  prophets,  and  narratives  which  illustrated  their 
power  and  influence  were  faithfully  gathered  and  lovingly  cher- 
ished. It  is  to  this  impulse  that  these  chapters  of  Isaiah  are  due. 
In  them  interest  is  divided  between  Hezekiah  and  Isaiah,  but  the 
king  is,  as  it  were,  a  foil  to  the  prophet.  When  his  heart,  like  that 
of  his  father  Ahaz  about  thirty-five  years  before,  was  swayed 
like  the  forest  trees  before  the  wind  (7  :  2)  by  fear  of  an  impending 
invasion,  now,  as  then,  it  is  Isaiah  who  speaks  the  steadying  word 
(36  f.).  It  is  he  who  announces  to  the  sick  king  the  welcome  news 
that  his  life  will  be  prolonged  (Chap.  38)  and  who  afterwards  fore- 
tells to  him  the  exile  (Chap.  39). 

Except  for  the  omission  of  the  story  of  Hezekiah's  tribute  to 
Sennacherib  (2  Kings  18:  14-16)  and  the  addition  of  the  song 
of  thanksgiving  on  his  recovery  from  sickness  (Isa.  38  :  9-20), 
these  chapters  (36-39)  simply  repeat,  occasionally  in  a  slightly 
abbreviated  form,  the  narrative  of  2  Kings  18  :  13-20 :  19. 

Chaps.  36  and  37.  Every  one  who  reads  these  two  chapters 
attentively  must  have  been  struck  by  the  seeming  repetitions  in 
the  story  they  tell.  Two  attempts  are  made  by  Sennacherib  to 
induce  Hezekiah  to  surrender  Jerusalem.  First  an  Assyrian  depu- 
tation comes,  which  discusses  the  matter  orally;  in  the  second 
case  a  letter  is  sent,  but  its  terms  closely  resemble  the  words  of  the 
deputation.  Both  times  Hezekiah  is  thrown  into  consternation, 
and  both  times  he  is  heartened  by  the  word  of  Isaiah.  The  prob- 
able explanation  of  these  facts  is  that  we  have  here  not  two  narra- 

Q  22  s 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  And  the  king  of  Assyria  sent  Rabshakeh  from  Lachish 
to  Jerusalem  unto  king  Hezekiah  with  a  great  army. 
And  he  stood  by  the  conduit  of  the  upper  pool  in  the 

3.  high  way  of  the  fuller's  field.  Then  came  forth  unto 
him  EUakim  the  son  of  Hilkiah,  which  was  over  the 
household,  and  Shebna  the  ^  scribe,  and  Joah  the  son 
of  Asaph  the  ^  recorder. 

4.  And  Rabshakeh  said  unto  them.  Say  ye  now  to 
Hezekiah,  Thus  saith  the  great  king,  the  king  of 
Assyria,    What    confidence     is     this   wherein    thou 

1  m.  secretary.        2  m,  chronicler. 

tives  of  different  events,  but  two  parallel  narratives  of  the  same 
event,  which,  while  they  differ  somewhat  in  detail,  agree  in  the 
main  fact  that,  in  accordance  with  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  Sen- 
nacherib was  compelled  to  withdraw  from  Judah  without  captur- 
ing Jerusalem.  There  are  several  indications  that  both  narratives 
are  late. 

The  Assyrian  Challenge  (vss.  1-3) 

1.  In  the  fourteenth  year  of  king  Hezekiah.  The  year  in- 
tended is  unquestionably  701  B.C.  The  number  fourteenth 
appears  to  be  reached  artificially,  by  deducting  the  fifteen  years 
by  which  38  :  5  states  that  his  life  was  prolonged  from  the  twenty- 
nine  years  which  covered  his  reign  (2  Kings  18:2).  All  the  fenced 
cities  :   Sennacherib  claims  to  have  taken  forty-six. 

2.  Rabshakeh,  a  title,  the  Rabshakeh.  Lachish,  now  Tell-el- 
Hesy,  an  important  Judsean  fortress,  southwest  of  Jerusalem, 
commanding  the  road  from  Egypt.  The  conduit  of  the  upper  pool, 
where  Isaiah  had  gone  out  to  meet  Ahaz,  thirty-five  years  before 
(7:3).  It  is  interesting  to  find  faith  twice  challenged  on  the  same 
spot  —  by  the  increduHty  of  the  Hebrew  Ahaz,  and  a  generation 
after,  by  the  insolence  of  the  Assyrian  Rabshakeh. 

3.  Eliakim  and  Shebna:  cf.  22:15-23.  Scribe:  secretary 
(cf.  margin).  Recorder:  Ht.  remembrancer,  probably  the  officer 
whose  duty  it  was  to  bring  important  business  before  the  king. 

The  Rabshakeh' s  Speech  (vss.  4-10) 

There  are  three  possible  sources  of  confidence  for  Hezekiah  — 
all,  according  to  this  clever  diplomat,  equally  futile :  Egypt, 
Jehovah,  and  the  Judaean  soldiery. 

226 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  36:10 


5.  trustest?  I  say,  thy  counsel  and  strength  for  the 
war  are  but  vain  words :   now  on  whom  dost  thou 

6.  trust,  that  thou  hast  rebelled  against  me  ?  Behold, 
thou  trustest  upon  the  staff  of  this  bruised  reed, 
even  upon  Egypt ;  whereon  if  a  man  lean,  it  will  go 
into  his  hand,  and  pierce  it :    so  is  Pharaoh  king  of 

7.  Egypt  to  all  that  trust  on  him.  But  if  thou  say  unto 
me,  We  trust  in  the  Lord  our  God :  is  not  that  he, 
whose  high  places  and  whose  altars  Hezekiah  hath 
taken  away,  and  hath  said  to  Judah  and  to  Jerusalem, 

8.  Ye  shall  worship  before  this  altar?  Now  therefore, 
I  pray  thee,  ^  give  pledges  to  my  master  the  king  of 
Assyria,  and  I  will  give  thee  two  thousand  horses, 
if  thou  be  able  on  thy  part  to  set  riders  upon  them. 

9.  How  then  canst  thou  turn  away  the  face  of  one  captain 
of  the  least  of  my  master's  servants,  and  put  thy  trust 

10.  on  Egypt  for  chariots  and  for  horsemen?    And  am 
I  now  come  up  without  the  Lord  against  this  land 

1  m.  make  a  wager  with. 

5.  I  say,  etc. :  read  Thinkest  thou  (second  person)  that  a  mere 
word  of  the  lips  is  counsel  and  strength  for  war  ? 

6.  Egyptian  help  is  futile  (cf.  30  :  i  ff. ;  31  :  1-3). 

7.  Hezekiah's  attempt  to  "  remove  the  high  places  "  (2  Kings 
18:4)  and  to  concentrate  worship  in  Jerusalem  before  this  altar 
of  the  temple  would  seem  to  the  heathen  diplomat  to  be  equivalent 
to  the  disestablishment  of  religion  in  the  provinces,  so  that  Je- 
hovah could  not  be  expected  to  help  such  a  people, 

8.  Give  pledges  to :  read  with  margin,  make  a  wager  with. 
Neither  Egypt  nor  Jehovah  would  help  the  people  of  Judah ;  nor, 
with  their  deficiency  in  cavalry  (30:  16),  could  they  effectively 
help  themselves. 

9.  Turn  away  the  face,  i.e.  repel  the  onset.  How  shall  Heze- 
kiah assail  the  great  king,  when  he  is  not  even  a  match  for  a 
subordinate  Assyrian  official? 

10.  Against  this  land,  better,  place  (so  2  Kings  18 :  25),  i.e. 
Jerusalem.     The  LORD  said  unto  me  :  the  claim  that  the  Assyrian 

227 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


to  destroy  it  ?    The  Lord  said  unto  me,  Go  up  against 
this  land,  and  destroy  it. 

11.  Then  said  Eliakim  and  Shebna  and  Joah  unto  Rab- 
shakeh,  Speak,  I  pray  thee,  unto  thy  servants  in  the 
^  Syrian  language ;  for  we  understand  it :  and  speak 
not  to  us  in  the  Jews'  language,  in  the  ears  of  the 

12.  people  that  are  on  the  wall.  But  Rabshakeh  said. 
Hath  my  master  sent  me  to  thy  master,  and  to  thee, 
to  speak  these  words  ?  hath  he  not  sent  me  to  the  men 
that  sit  upon  the  wall,  to  eat  their  own  dung,  and  to 
drink  their  own  water  with  you? 

13.  Then  Rabshakeh  stood,  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice 
in  the  Jews'  language,  and  said.  Hear  ye  the  words 

14.  of  the  great  king,  the  king  of  Assyria.  Thus  saith 
the  king.  Let  not  Hezekiah  deceive  you ;  for  he  shall 

15.  not  be  able  to  deliver  you  :  neither  let  Hezekiah  make 

1  Heb.  Aramean. 


advance  upon  Jerusalem  is  in  obedience  to  an  oracle  of  Jehovah 
is  a  very  remarkable  one.  The  Rabshakeh,  who  is  familiar  with 
Hebrew  (vs.  13),  may  conceivably  have  known  something  of  oracles 
of  Isaiah,  which  assigned  to  Assyria  the  duty  of  chastising  Judah 
(cf.  10:  5  fif.) ;  more  probably  it  was  simply  a  fabrication  designed 
to  terrify  Judah. 

The  Rabshakeh' s  Taunt  (vss.  11  f.) 

11.  In  the  Sj^an  language,  in  Aramaic,  which  was  the  inter- 
national language  throughout  western  Asia,  and  therefore  familiar 
alike  to  Assyrian  and  Hebrew  officials. 

12.  With  you.  The  coarse  and  insolent  words  simply  mean  that 
so  long  as  the  people  are  led  by  Hezekiah  and  his  officials,  they  have 
nothing  to  expect  but  starvation  fare  (cf.  2  Chr.  32:  11).  Con- 
trast vs.  16. 

The  Rabshakeh' s  Fruitless  Appeal  to  the  People  (vss.  13-22) 

Throughout  this  speech,  the  Rabshakeh  deliberately  refrains 
from  calling  Hezekiah  king. 

228 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  36; 


you  trust  in  the  Lord,  saying,  The  Lord  will  surely 
deliver  us ;   this  city  shall  not  be  given  into  the  hand 

16.  of  the  king  of  Assyria.  Hearken  not  to  Hezekiah : 
for  thus  saith  the  king  of  Assyria,  ^  Make  your  peace 
with  me,  and  come  out  to  me  ;  and  eat  ye  every  one  of 
his  vine,  and  every  one  of  his  fig  tree,  and  drink  ye 

17.  every  one  the  waters  of  his  own  cistern  :  until  I  come 
and  take  you  away  to  a  land  hke  your  own  land,  a 
land  of  corn  and  wine,  a  land  of  bread  and  vineyards. 

18.  Beware  lest  Hezekiah  persuade  you,  saying.  The  Lord 
will  deliver  us.  Hath  any  of  the  gods  of  the  nations 
delivered  his  land  out  of  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Assyria  ? 

19.  Where  are  the  gods  of  Hamath  and  Arpad?  where 
are  the  gods  of  Sepharvaim  ?  and  have  they  delivered 

20.  Samaria  out  of  my  hand?  Who  are  they  among  all 
the  gods  of  these  countries,  that  have  delivered  their 
country  out  of  my  hand,  that  the  Lord  should  deliver 

21.  Jerusalem  out  of  my  hand?  But  they  held  their 
peace,  and  answered  him  not  a  word  :    for  the  king's 

22.  commandment  was,  saying,  Answer  him  not.  Then 
came  Eliakim  the  son  of  Hilkiah,  that  was  over  the 

1  Heb.  Make  with  me  a  blessing. 

16  f.  Make  your  peace  :  make  a  blessing  (cf.  margin) — i.e.  be 
on  terms  of  greeting,  on  friendly  footing.  Come  out,  surrender. 
Immediate  surrender  will  mean  that  agricultural  operations, 
suspended  by  the  blockade,  may  be  at  once  resumed ;  though  the 
people  are  cynically  reminded  that  their  ultimate  fate  will  be 
deportation. 

18-20.  Jehovah  will  prove  no  more  able  to  save  his  people  than 
other  gods  to  save  their  peoples.  Hamath  and  Arpad  :  cf.  10 :  9. 
Sepharvaim,  perhaps  Sibraim,  between  Hamath  and  Damascus 
(Ezek.  47  :  16).  In  reality  Samaria  had  been  taken  (721  B.C.)  by 
Sargon,  not  by  Sennacherib.     With  vss.  18-20  cf.  10:  5-11. 

21.  They  held  their  peace,  i.e.  the  people  on  the  wall  (2  Kings 
18 :  36).     The  delegates  no  doubt  returned  some  formal  answer. 

229 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


household,  and  Shebna  the  scribe,  and  Joah  the  son 
of  Asaph  the  recorder,  to  Hezekiah  with  their  clothes 
rent,  and  told  him  the  words  of  Rabshakeh. 
37.      And  it  came  to  pass,  when  king  Hezekiah  heard  it, 
that  he  rent  his  clothes,  and  covered  himself  with  sack- 

2.  cloth,  and  went  into  the  house  of  the  Lord.  And  he 
sent  EKakim,  who  was  over  the  household,  and  Shebna 
the  scribe,  and  the  elders  of  the  priests,  covered  with 
sackcloth,  unto  Isaiah  the  prophet  the  son  of  Amoz. 

3.  And  they  said  unto  him,  Thus  saith  Hezekiah,  This 
day  is  a  day  of  trouble,  and  of  rebuke,  and  of  con- 
tumely :    for  the  children  are  come  to  the  birth,  and 

4.  there  is  not  strength  to  bring  forth.  It  may  be  the 
Lord  thy  God  will  hear  the  words  of  Rabshakeh, 
whom  the  king  of  Assyria  his  master  hath  sent  to 
reproach  the  living  God,  and  will  rebuke  the  words 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  heard :   wherefore  lift 

5.  up  thy  prayer  for  the  remnant  that  is  left.     So  the 

6.  servants    of    king    Hezekiah    came    to    Isaiah.     And 

22.  Clothes  rent,  sign  of  grief. 

Hezekiah's  Appeal  to  Isaiah;    Isaiah's  Answer  (37  :  i-ga) 

1.  Sackcloth,  sign  of  mourning  (cf.  36  :  22). 

2.  Unto  Isaiah  :  prophets  were  frequently  consulted  in  times  of 
public  distress  (cf.  2  Kings  22  :  12  ff. ;  Jer.  37:3).  They  were  be- 
lieved to  stand  specially  near  their  God  (cf.  vs.  4,  Jehovah  ihy 
God  ;  and  Amos  3:7). 

3.  Here  Hezekiah  implicitly  acknowledges  the  futility  of  his 
Egyptian  policy  (31:1  flf.),  which  has  but  brought  him  distress, 
chastisement,  and  rejection.  The  children,  etc. :  the  crisis  is  grave, 
and  there  is  no  strength  to  cope  with  it. 

4.  Lift  up  thy  prayer:  intercessory  prayer,  especially  of  pro- 
phetic men,  ''  availeth  much  "  (Gen.  20  :  7  ;  Jer.  18  :  20  ;  Job  42  :  8  ; 
James  5  :  16). 

6.  Isaiah  has  his  inspired  answer  ready.  He  and  the  Rab- 
shakeh are  representatives  of  Faith  and  Force. 

230 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  37 :  10 


Isaiah  said  unto  them,  Thus  shall  ye  say  to  your  master, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Be  not  afraid  of  the  words  that 
thou  hast  heard,  wherewith  the  servants  of  the  king 

7.  of  Assyria  have  blasphemed  me.  Behold,  I  will  put 
a  spirit  in  him,  and  he  shall  hear  a  rumour,  and  shall 
return  unto  his  own  land ;  and  I  will  cause  him  to 
fall  by  the  sword  in  his  own  land. 

8.  So  Rabshakeh  returned,  and  found  the  king  of 
Assyria  warring  against  Libnah  :  for  he  had  heard  that 

9.  he  was  departed  from  Lachish.  And  he  heard  say 
concerning  Tirhakah  king  of  Ethiopia,  He  is  come  out 
to  fight  against  thee.      And  when  he  heard  it  .  .  . 

Second  Narrative  (37:9-36),  including  the  Taunt  Song 
(37:22-29) 

10.      He  sent  messengers  to  Hezekiah,  saying,  Thus  shall  ye 
speak  to  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah,  saying,  Let  not  thy 

7.  A  spirit,  the  spirit  of  fear.  The  nunor  is  of  the  advance  of 
Tirhakah  (vs.  9).  To  fall  by  the  sword  :  the  implication  is  that  he 
was  murdered  soon  after  his  return  (cf.  vs.  38).  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  this  did  not  take  jilace  till  twenty  years  after,  in  681  B.C. 

8.  Libnah  appears  to  be  the  seat  of  the  Assyrian  army  in  the 
second  story,  as  Lachish  in  the  first,  and  the  words  warring  .  .  . 
Lachish  serve  the  purpose  of  binding  the  stories  together. 

ga  is  followed  by  vss.  37  f.  which  show  how  Sennacherib  met  his 
end,  in  fulfilment  of  the  prediction  in  vs.  7. 

37  '■  9^36.  This  second  narrative,  which  assigns  Sennacherib's 
departure  from  Judah  not  to  a  rumor,  but  to  the  mysterious  de- 
struction of  an  immense  contingent  of  the  Assyrian  host  (vs.  36), 
is  interrupted  (a)  by  a  taunt  song  (vss.  22-29),  which  declares 
that  the  Assyrian  will  be  led  back  to  his  own  land  Hke  a  wild 
beast  that  is  captured  and  mastered,  and  (&)  by  a  sign  (vss.  30-32), 
which  announces  for  the  very  near  future  the  dawn  of  the  better 
day  to  be. 

The  Letter  (vss.  9b-i3) 

The  letter  (cf.  vs.  14)  is  in  the  same  strain  as  the  speech  of 
the  deputation  in  Chap.  36,  and  appears  to  be  not  a  subsequent 

231 


37:  II  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


God  in  whom  thou    trustest    deceive  thee,    saying, 
Jerusalem  shall  not  be  given  into  the  hand  of  the  Idng 

11.  of  Assyria.  Behold,  thou  hast  heard  what  the  kings 
of  Assyria  have  done  to  all  lands,  by  destroying  them 

12.  utterly:  and  shalt  thou  be  delivered  ?  Have  the  gods 
of  the  nations  delivered  them,  which  my  fathers  have 
destroyed,  Gozan,  and  Haran,  and  Rezeph,  and  the 

13.  children  of  Eden  wliich  were  in  Telassar?  Where 
is  the  king  of  Hamath,  and  the  king  of  Arpad,  and  the 
king  of  the  city  of  Sepharvaim,  of  Hena,  and  Iwah  ? 

14.  And  Hezekiah  received  the  letter  from  the  hand  of 
the  messengers,  and  read  it :  and  Hezekiah  went  up 
unto  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  spread  it  before  the 

15.  Lord.     And  Hezekiah  prayed  unto  the  Lord,  saying, 

16.  O  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel,  that  ^  sittest  upon 
the  cherubim,  thou  art  the  God,  even  thou  alone,  of  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  ;  thou  hast  made  heaven 

1  m.  dwellest  between;  SV  sittest  above  ;  SV  m.  art  enthroned  above. 

incident,  but  a  parallel  account  of  the  same  incident.  The  letter 
could  not  be  expected  to  effect  what  the  speech  had  failed  to 
effect. 

10.  Let  not  thy  God  deceive  thee :  in  36 :  14  Hezekiah  is  the 
deceiver. 

12.  Fathers  -=  predecessors.  Gozan  and  Karan,  in  Mesopotamia. 
Rezeph,  near  the  Euphrates,  midway  between  Palmyra  and  Haran. 
The  children  of  Eden,  Bit  Adini,  a  district  on  the  Upper  Euphrates 
north  of  Rezeph.  Telassar,  not  identified,  but  doubtless  in  the 
same  neighborhood. 

Hezekiah's  Prayer  (vss.   14-20) 

14.  Spread  it  before  Jehovah  —  a  curious  and  interesting 
touch,  as  if  the  sight  of  the  insolent  letter  would  provoke  the 
indignation  and  vengeance  of  Jehovah. 

16.  That  sittest  upon,  throned  upon.  The  cherubim,  figures  with 
outstretched  wings  above  the  ark  (i  Kings  8:6  f.).  The  creative 
power  (cf.  Ps.  121:  2),  divinity,  and  sovereignty  of  Jehovah  are 

232 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  37^22 


17.  and  earth.  Incline  thine  ear,  O  Lord,  and  hear  ;  open 
thine  eyes,  O  Lord,  and  see :  and  hear  all  the  words 
of    Sennacherib,   which   hath   sent   to   reproach    the 

18.  living  God.     Of  a  truth.  Lord,  the  kings  of  Assyria 

19.  have  laid  waste  all  the  ^  countries,  and  their  land,  and 
have  cast  their  gods  into  the  fire  :  for  they  were  no 
gods,  but  the  work  of  men's  hands,  wood  and  stone ; 

20.  therefore  they  have  destroyed  them.  Now  therefore, 
O  Lord  our  God,  save  us  from  his  hand,  that  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth  may  know  that  thou  art  the 
Lord,  even  thou  only. 

21.  Then  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz  sent  unto  Hezekiah, 
saying,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel, ^  Where- 
as thou  hast  prayed  to  me  against  Sennacherib,  king 

22.  of  Assyria,  this  is  the  word  which  the  Lord  hath 
spoken  concerning  him : 


2  Kings  19 :  15,  nations.        ^  Gr.  /  have  heard  thy  prayer. 


appropriately  emphasized  in  the  opening  words  of  the  prayer,  as 
the  Assyrian  letter  had  insinuated  his  impotence. 
18.  Countries:   read  nations  (so  2  Kings  19:  17). 

20.  The  last  clause  should  read,  as  2  Kings  19 :  19  (margin), 
that  thou,  Jehovah,  art  God  alone.  The  deliverance  of  Jerusalem 
from  Sennacherib  would  be  conclusive  proof  of  Jehovah's  sole 
divinity. 

Isaiah's  Reply  (vss.  21,  33-35) 

21.  Isaiah  has  a  mysterious  knowledge  of  Hezekiah's  prayer, 
and  at  once  announces  the  divine  answer,  which  is  given  in  vss. 
33-35.  In  our  present  text,  the  sequence  between  the  prayer  and 
the  answer  is  interrupted  by  the  taunt  song  (vss.  22-29)  and  the 
sign  iyss.  30-32). 

The  Taunt  Song  (vss.  22-29) 

This  is  a  striking  and  powerful  poem.  The  arrogant  might  of 
the  Assyrian  is  vividly  portrayed  in  vss.  24  f.,  27,  only  to  be  thrown 
against  the  invincible  omnipotence  of  Jehovah,  who  leads  him 

233 


37:23  THE  BOOK  OF  IS-\L\H 


The  \'irgin  daughter  of  Zion 

Hath  despised  thee  and  laughed  thee  to  scorn  ; 
The  daughter  of  Jerusalem 

Hath  shaken  her  head  ^  at  thee. 

23.  WTiom  hast  thou  reproached  and  blasphemed? 

And  agamst  whom  hast  thou  exalted  thy  voice 
And  hf ted  up  thine  eyes  on  high  ? 
Even  against  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 

24.  By  thy  ^  ser\-ants  hast  thou  reproached 

The  Lord,  and  hast  said, 
''With  the  multitude  of  my  chariots  am  I  come  up  to 
the  height  of  the  mountains, 

To  the  innermost  parts  of  Lebanon  ; 
And  I  will  cut  down  the  tall  cedars  thereof, 

And  the  choice  fir  trees  thereof ; 
And  I  will  enter  into  ^his  ^  farthest  height, 

The  forest  of  ^  his  fruitful  field. 
25.1  have  digged  and  drunk 

^  Water, 
And  with  the  sole  of  my  feet  will  I  dry  up 

.\11  the  rivers  of  Eg^'pt." 


1  Heb.  after.  -2  Kings  19:23,  messengers.  ■' 5V  :7;.  <2  Kings  19:23,  lodging 
place.    --  2  Kings  19:  24,  strange  waters. 

avray,  like  the  wild  beast  that  he  is,  with  a  ring  through  his  nose, 
amid  the  derisive  shouts  of  the  people  whom  he  had  despised  and 
insulted. 

22.  The  virgin:  Jerusalem,  the  inviolate.  Hath  shaken  her 
head  in  mockery. 

24.  He  can  do  what  is  impossible  for  others  —  traverse  with  his 
chariots  the  lofty  mountains ;  and  their  forests  yield  him  timber. 
Read  I  go  up.  I  cut  do'jjn,  elc.  Such  experiences  are  frequent.  His 
furthest  height:  read  its  furthest  retreat  (2  Kings  19  :  23). 

25.  Waters:  read  strange  waters  (so  2  Kings  19:24).  The 
meaning  is  that  he  never  allowed  his  course  to  be  impeded  either 
by  lack  of  water  or  by  floods. 

234 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  37:29 


26.  Hast  thou  not  heard  how  I  have  done  it 

Long  ago ; 
And  formed  it  of  ancient  times  ? 

Now  have  I  brought  it  to  pass, 
That  thou  shouldest  be  to  lay  waste  fenced  cities 

Into  ruinous  heaps. 

27.  Therefore  their  inhabitants  were  of  small  power, 

They  were  dismayed  and  confounded  ; 
They  were  as  the  grass  of  the  field,  and  as  the  green 

herb, 
As  the  grass  on  the  housetops,  and  as  a  ^  field  of  corn 

before  it  be  grown  up. 

28.  But  I  know  thy  sitting  down, 

And  thy  going  out,  and  thy  coming  in, 

29.  And  thy  raging  against  me.     Because  of  thy  raging 

against  me,  and  for  that  thine  arrogancy 
Is  come  up  into  mine  ears. 
Therefore  will  I  put  my  hook  in  thy  nose. 
And  my  bridle  in  thy  Hps, 

1  2  Kings  19:  26,  corn  (SV  grain). 

26.  Sennacherib's  destructive  activity  has  been  in  accordance 
with  Jehovah's  ancient  purpose  (10:5-7).  The  verse  recalls 
passages  in  the  latter  part  of  Isaiah  (cf.  40  :  28 ;  45  :  21). 

27  f.  As  grass,  cut  down  or  trampled  with  ease.  Before  it  be 
grown  up :  this  clause,  emended,  seems  to  go  with  the  next  verse, 
so  that  the  whole  would  read : 

Before  me  is  thine  uprising  and  thy  downsitting  (Ps.  139  :  2), 

Thy  going  out  and  coming  in  I  know, 
And  thy  turbulent  raging  against  me 

And  thy  tumult  have  come  up  into  my  ears. 

The  third  line  has  been  inadvertently  repeated. 

29.  The  figure  of  the  roaring,  raging  beast,  dragged  back  against 
its  will,  with  a  ring  through  its  nose,  is  a  very  striking  symbol 
for  the  humiliating  departure  of  the  powerful  and  haughty  Assyr- 
ian. 

23s 


37:30  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  I  will  turn  thee  back  by  the  way 
By  which  thou  earnest. 

30.  And  this  shall  be  the  sign  unto  thee  : 

Ye  shall  eat  this  year  that  which  groweth  of  itself, 
And  in  the  second  year  that  which  springeth  of  the 
same ; 

And  in  the  third  year  sow  ye,  and  reap, 

And  plant  vineyards,  and  eat  the  fruit  thereof. 

31.  And  the  remnant  that  is  escaped  out  of  the  house  of 

Judah 
Shall  again  take  root  downward,  and  bear  fruit  up- 
ward. 

32.  For  out  of  Jerusalem  shall  go  forth  a  remnant. 

And  out  of  mount  Zion  they  that  shall  escape  : 
The  zeal  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  perform  this. 

33.  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  concerning  the  king  of 
Assyria, 

"  He  shall  not  come  into  this  city. 

Nor  shoot  an  arrow  there, 
Neither  shall  he  come  before  it  with  shield. 

Nor  cast  a  mound  against  it. 

The  Sign  (vss.  30-32) 

30.  Agricultural  operations,  which  had  been  suspended  by  the 
presence  of  the  Assyrians  in  the  land,  would  be  resumed  in  less 
than  two  years.  The  fulfilment  of  this  sign  would  be  proof  that 
Jehovah  had  foreseen  all  the  circumstances  of  the  deliverance, 
and  accurately  foretold  them  by  his  prophet. 

31  f.  Deliverance  from  the  Assyrians  is  but  the  prelude  to  an 
era  of  stability  and  fruitfulness  for  Judah,  and  Jehovah  is  pledged 
to  this  (cf.  9:7). 

33~35-  These  verses  follow  vs.  21,  and  constitute  the  divine 
answer  —  announced  through  Isaiah  —  to  Hezekiah's  prayer. 
There  is  to  be  no  siege  of  the  city.     Elsewhere,  and  earlier,  Isaiah 

236 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  37:38 


34.  By  the  way  that  he  came,  by  the  same  shall  he  return, 

And  he  shall  not  come  unto  this  city,"  saith  the  Lord. 

35.  For  I  will  defend  this  city  to  save  it. 

For  mine  own  sake,  and  for  my  servant  David's  sake. 

36.  And  ^  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  forth,  and  smote 
in  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  a  hundred  and  fourscore 
and  five  thousand :  and  when  men  arose  early  in  the 
morning,  behold,  they  were  all  dead  corpses. 

Conclusion  of  the  First  Narrative  (37  :  37  f.) 

37.  So  Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  departed,  and  went 

38.  and  returned,  and  dwelt  at  Nineveh.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  as  he  was  worshipping  in  the  house  of  Nisroch 
his  god,  that  Adrammelech  and  Sharezer  his  sons  smote 
him  with  the  sword  :  and  they  escaped  into  the  land  of 
Ararat.     And  Esar-haddon  his  son  reigned  in  his  stead. 

1  2  Kings  19:35,  it  came  to  pass  that  night,  that  .  .  . 

had  announced  a  very  grievcuis  siege  (29:3).  In  point  of  fact, 
though  the  city  was  really  blockaded  —  Hezekiah  being  shut  up 
"  like  a  bird  in  a  cage  "  —  it  was  not  besieged.  With  vs.  35,  cf. 
31  :  5. 

36.  The  angel :  no  doubt  pestilence  is  intended  (cf.  2  Sam.  24 : 
13,  16),  which  from  time  immemorial  has  been  associated  with 
the  swampy  land  northeast  of  the  Nile  delta.  There  is  indepen- 
dent evidence  in  Herodotus  that  a  disaster  of  some  kind  overtook 
the  Assyrian  army,  and  his  story  suggests,  though  it  does  not 
directly  assert,  that  the  cause  of  it  was  plague.  When  men  arose  : 
rather  when  they  arose.     There  is  grim  humor  in  this. 

37  f.  These  verses  follow  vs.  9a,  and  constitute  the  conclusion 
of  the  first  narrative  (36 :  i  ff.).  They  describe  how  Sennacherib 
returned  to  his  country,  and  met  his  end,  in  accordance  with  the 
prediction  in  vs.  7. 

38.  Nisroch.  No  Assyrian  god  bearing  this  name  is  known  — 
perhaps  Nusku,  god  of  fire.  His  sons  :  only  one  son  is  mentioned 
in  Assyrian  sources.  Ararat,  Armenia.  Esar-haddon  reigned 
681-668  B.C. 

237 


38: 1  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Hezekiah's  Sickness,  Recovery,  and  Song  of  Thanks- 
giving (Chap.  38) 

Hezekiah's  Sickness  (38  :  1-8) 

38.  In  those  days  was  Hezekiah  sick  unto  death.  And 
Isaiah  the  prophet  the  son  of  Amoz  came  to  him,  and 
said  unto  him,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Set  thine  house 

2.  in  order  ;  for  thou  shalt  die,  and  not  hve.  Then  Hez- 
ekiah turned  his  face  to  the  wall,  and  prayed  unto  the 

3.  Lord,  and  said,  Remember  now,  O  Lord,  I  beseech 
thee,  how  I  have  walked  before  thee  in  truth  and  with 
a  perfect  heart,  and  have  done  that  which  is  good 

4.  in  thy  sight.     And  Hezekiah  wept  sore.      Then  came 

5.  the  word  of  the  Lord  to  Isaiah,  saying.  Go,  and  say 
to  Hezekiah,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  God  of  David 
thy  father,  I  have  heard  thy  prayer,  I  have  seen  thy 
tears :  behold,  I  will  add  unto  thy  days  fifteen  years. 

6.  And  I  will  deliver  thee  and  this  city  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  king  of  Assyria :    and  I  will  defend  this  city. 


38 :  1-8.  The  story  of  Hezekiah's  sickness  and  recovery  (Chap. 
38),  dealing  with  the  private,  as  Chaps.  36!.  with  the  public,  life 
of  Hezekiah,  illustrates,  like  those  chapters,  the  high  importance 
of  the  prophet. 

1.  In  those  days:  a  loose  phrase  —  not,  in  any  case,  the  days 
of  the  blockade  of  Jerusalem  round  which  Chaps.  36  f.  turn,  but 
some  earlier  time.  Hezekiah's  sickness  preceded  the  embassy 
from  Merodach-Baladan   (39 :  i),  which  probably  fell  in  704  b.c. 

2.  Hezekiah  prayed  as  in  37  :  15,  21. 

3.  There  are  several  confessions  of  integrity  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment (cf.  Ps.  44:  17  f.). 

4.  The  prayer  is  heard  at  once  (cf.  2  Kings  20:  4),  and  the  di- 
vine answer  communicated,  exactly  as  in  37  :  21. 

6.  This  verse  must  be  a  later  insertion  (from  37  :  35),  as  it  only 
fits  the  date  of  the  blockade  (701  B.C.),  which  was  later  than  Heze- 
kiah's sickness. 

238 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  38:10 


7.  And  this  shall  be  the  sign  unto  thee  from  the  Lord, 
that  the  Lord  will'do  this  thing  that  he  hath  spoken  : 

8.  behold,  I  will  cause  the  shadow  on  the  steps,  which 
is  gone  down  on  the  ^  dial  of  Ahaz  ^  with  the  sun,  to  re- 
turn backward  ten  steps.  So  the  sun  returned  ten 
ten  steps  on  the  dial  whereon  it  was  gone  down. 

Hezekiah's  Song  of  Thanksgiving  (38  :  9-20) 

9.  The  3  writing  of  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah,  when  he  had 
been  sick,  and  was  recovered  of  his  sickness. 

10.  I  said,  "In  the  ^  noontide  of  my  days 

I  shall  go 

iHeb.  steps,    "^m.  by.     3  Gr.  prayer,    ^m.  tranquillity;    AV  cutting  ojff. 

7  f.  The  sign,  cf.  37  :  30.  In  2  Kings  20:  8-1 1,  the  miracle  of 
the  sign  is  enhanced  by  the  prophet's  offer  of  a  choice  to  Hezekiah. 
Which  is  gone  down  .  .  .  with  the  sun :  read,  which  the  sun  has 
gone  down  (so  the  Greek  version)  on  the  steps  of  Ahaz.  ^  Some  means 
of  measuring  time  appear  to  be  implied,  though  precisely  what  we 
do  not  know ;  possibly  "  a  pyramid  of  steps  on  the  top  of  which 
stood  a  short  pillar  or  obeKsk  "  (G.  A.  Smith),  whose  shadow, 
cast  by  the  sun,  would  fall  upon  the  steps.  Ewald  makes  the 
interesting  suggestion  that  the  story  rests,  hke  that  in  Josh.  10 : 
13  f.  on  the  misunderstanding  of  a  poetical  expression.  The  story 
may  well,  however,  have  some  other  origin. 

38 :  9-20.  There  is  a  certain  dramatic  propriety  in  the  insertion 
of  such  a  song  at  this  point,  and  such  an  insertion  is  quite  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  practice  of  Hebrew  historians  (cf.  Hannah's 
song  in  i  Sam.  2)  ;  nevertheless  the  fact  of  its  being  described  as 
the  writing  of  Hezekiah  (which  should,  besides,  perhaps  be  the 
Michtam  of  Hezekiah,  cf.  the  titles  of  Ps.  56-60)  is  very  far  from 
proving  that  the  song  really  comes  from  him,  especially  when 
we  consider  how  little  historical  value  attaches  to  the  superscrip- 
tions of  the  so-called  "  Davidic  "  psalms.  Many  of  its  phrases 
recall  late  psalms  and  the  book  of  Job,  and  in  all  probability  it  is 
a  late  composition,  taken  from  a  liturgical  collection,  and  sung 
in  public  worship  (cf.  vs.  20). 

10.  Noontide,  a  difficult  word;  either  height  (so  Gr.)  or  even 
239 


38:  II  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Into  the  gates  of  ^  the  grave  :  I  am  deprived 
Of  the  residue  of  my  years." 

11.  I  said,^  "I  shall  not  see  ^  the  Lord,  even  ^  the  Lord 

In  the  land  of  the  living  : 
I  shall  behold  man  no  more 

^  With  the  inhabitants  of  the  world." 

12.  Mine  ^  age  is  removed,  and  is  carried  away  from  me 

As  a  shepherd's  tent : 
I  have  rolled  up  like  a  weaver  my  life  ; 

He  will  cut  me  off  from  the  ^  loom  : 
From  day  even  to  night  wilt  thou  make  an  end  of  me. 

13.  I  ^  quieted  myself  until  morning  ; 
As  a  lion,  so  he  breaketh 

All  my  bones. 
From  day  even  to  night 

Wilt  thou  make  an  end  of  me. 

14.  Like  a  swallow  or  ^  a,  crane,  so  did  I  chatter ; 

I  did  mourn  as  a  dove  ; 

1  Heb.  Sheol.  2  Gr.  7  shall  no  more  at  all  see  the  salvation  of  God  in  the  land  of  the 
living ;  I  shall  no  more  at  all  see  the  salvation  of  Israel  on  the  earth  :  I  shall  no  more  at 
all  see  man.  ^  Heb.  Jah.  *  m.  when  I  am  among  them  that  have  ceased  to  he. 
6  m.  fiabitation ;  SV  dwelling.  ^  Heb.  thrum.  ^  in.  /  thought  (AY  reckoned)  until  morn- 
ing, As  a  lion,  so  will  he  break  ;    Tar.  /  cried.     *  Gr.  om. 

tenor.     Deprived :    or  perhaps  —  "  to  the  gates  of   Sheol  I  am 
consigned." 

11.  The  Lord,  even  the  Lord  :  read  simply  Jehovah  once.  To 
see  Jehovah  is  to  take  part  in  his  worship  in  the  temple  (cf.  i  :  12). 
Death  is  pecuharly  bitter  because,  besides  removing  a  man  from 
human  fellowship,  it  deprives  him  of  the  privilege  of  worship  (cf. 
vs.  18). 

12.  Age:  read,  with  margin,  habitation.  Carried  away  as  into 
exile.  Death  is  compared  to  the  moving  of  the  tent,  the  snapping 
of  the  thread.  From  day,  etc. :  night  and  day  thou  didst  deliver 
me  up  (i.e.  to  torment). 

13.  I  quieted  myself ,  etc. :  resid  I  cried.  Omit  the  last  sentence 
of  vs.  13  as  a  repetition  of  the  last  sentence  of  vs.  12. 

240 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  38:17 


Mine  eyes  fail  with  looking  upward  ; 
O  Lord,  I  am  oppressed,  be  thou  my  surety. 

15.  What  shall  I  say?  he  hath  both  spoken  unto  me, 

And  himself  hath  done  it : 
I  shall  go  ^  softly  all  my  years 

Because  of  ^  the  bitterness  of  my  soul. 

16.  ^  0  Lord,  by  these  things  men  live. 

And  wholly  therein  is  the  life  of  my  spirit : 
Wherefore  recover  thou  me. 
And  make  me  to  live. 

17.  ^  Behold,  it  was  for  my  peace 

That  I  had  great  bitterness  : 
But  ^  thou  hast  in  love  to  my  soul  delivered  it 
From  the  pit  of  ^  corruption  ; 

1  m.  as  in  solemn  procession,  cf.  Ps.  42  :  4.  2  Qj-.  mine  eyes  have  failed  unth  looking 
to  the  height  0]  the  heaven  to  the  Lord  (vs.  14),  who  has  delivered  me  arid  removed  the  pain 
of  my  soul.  ^  Gr.  Yea,  O  Lord,  for  it  was  told  thee  concerning  this;  and  thou  hast 
awakened  my  breath,  and  I  am  comforted,  and  live.  *  Gr.  om.  behold  .  .  .  bitterness. 
6  Heb.  thou  hast  loved  my  soul  from  the  pit ;  Gr.  thou  hast  taken  my  soul  that  it  should 
not  perish.     ^  m.  nothingness. 

14.  Omit  or  a  crane.  For  chatter  read  twitter.  Fail  with  look- 
ing upward  :  read  look  tearfully  upward.  I  am  oppressed  :  read 
perhaps  care  thou  for  me. 

15.  This  perplexing  verse  has  thus  been  emended  and  rendered 
by  Duhm  : 

What  shall  I  utter  and  speak  unto  him, 

Since  'tis  he  that  has  done  it? 
I  will  restlessly  toss  all  the  time  of  my  slumber, 

Because  of  my  bitterness  of  soul. 

16.  The  rendering  of  AV  and  RV  is  quite  impossible.  With 
the  help  of  the  Greek  version,  Duhm  proposes  a  text,  which  reads : 

Lord,  touching  this  my  heart  makes  mention  to  thee, 
Refresh  thou  my  spirit,  give  me  health  and  revive  me. 

17.  Behold  .  .  .  bitterness.  This  clause,  emphasizing,  as  no- 
where else  in  the  song,  the  disciplinary  efifect  of  the  suffering, 
is  omitted,  perhaps  rightly,  in  the  Greek  version.     Thou  hast  in 

R  241 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


For  thou  hast  cast  all  my  sins 
Behind  thy  back. 

1 8.  For  ^  the  grave  cannot  praise  thee, 

Death  cannot  celebrate  thee  : 
They  that  go  down  into  the  pit 
Cannot  hope  for  thy  ^  truth. 

19.  The  living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee, 

As  I  do  this  day  : 
The  father  to  the  children 
Shall  make  known  thy  truth. 

20.  The  Lord  is  ready  to  save  me  : 

Therefore  we  will  sing  my  songs  to  the  stringed 
instruments 
All  the  days  of  our  Hfe 
In  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

HezekiaKs  Recovery  (38  :  21  f.) 

21.  Now  Isaiah  had  said,  "Let  them  take  a  cake  of  figs, 
and  lay  it  for  a  plaister  upon  the  boil,  and  he  shall 

22.  recover."     Hezekiah  also  had  said,  "What  is  the  sign 
that  I  shall  go  up  to  the  house  of  the  Lord  ?  " 

1  Heb.  Sheol.        2  Gr.  mercy. 

love  .  .  .    :   perhaps,  Thou  didst  keep  hack  my  soul  from  the  pit  of 
destruction.     Recovery  is  the  proof  and  seal  of  sin  forgiven. 

18  f.  Life  is  peculiarly  precious,  for  only  to  the  living  is  worship 
possible  (cf.  vs.  11).  The  restored  man  has  the  duty  of  acquaint- 
ing his  children  with  the  divine  truth,  i.e.,  faithfulness  (cf.  Ps.  48: 

13)- 

20.  Whatever  be  the  origin  of  the  song,  it  is  adapted  by  this 
verse  to  the  use  of  the  worshipping  community.     Read : 

Jehovah,  he  pleased  to  deliver  us, 
And  stringed  music  we  will  play,  etc. 

21  f.  In  their  present  position,  these  verses  are  clearly  belated, 

242 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


39 


Hezekiah's  Vanity  and  Isaiah's  Rebuke  (Chap.  39) 

39.  At  that  time  Merodach-baladan  the  son  of  Baladan, 
king  of  Babylon,  sent  letters  and  ^  a  present  to  Heze- 
kiah :  for  he  heard  that  he  had  been  sick,  and  was 
recovered.  And  Hezekiah  was  glad  of  them,  and 
shewed  them  the  house  of  his  precious  things,  the  silver, 

2.  and  the  gold,  and  the  spices,  and  the  precious  oil,  and 
all  the  house  of  his  armour,  and  all  that  was  found 
in  his  treasures  :  there  was  nothing  in  his  house,  nor 
in  all  his  dominion,  that  Hezekiah  shewed  them  not. 

3.  Then  came  Isaiah  the  prophet  unto  king  Hezekiah, 
and  said  unto  him,  What  said  these  men?  and  from 
whence  came  they  unto  thee?     And  Hezekiah  said, 

1  Gr.  ambassadors  and  gifts. 

following  as  they  do  the  song  of  thanksgiving  for  recovery.  Par- 
ticularly so  is  the  reference  to  the  sign  which,  strictly  speaking, 
must  precede  vss.  7  f.     Lay,  rather  rub. 

39:  I.  At  that  time  —  after  Hezekiah's  recovery.  Merodach- 
Baladan  gave  much  trouble  to  Assyria  before  he  was  finally  over- 
thrown. He  reigned  over  Babylon  from  721  to  710  B.C.,  when  he 
was  driven  out  by  Sargon.  On  Sargon's  death,  in  705,  he  recovered 
his  power,  but  held  it  only  for  a  few  months.  This  embassy  to 
Hezekiah  ( ?  704  B.C.),  ostensibly  to  congratulate  him  on  his  re- 
covery, had  no  doubt  the  deeper  poHtical  object  of  securing  his 
help  in  a  revolt  against  Assyria. 

2.  The  house  of  his  precious  things  —  his  treasure  house.  The 
silver  and  gold  which  fill  the  treasure  house  show  that  the  period 
covered  by  Chaps.  38  f.  must  be  earher  than  36  f .,  when  the  treasury 
was  depleted  (2  Kings  18:14-16;  cf.  Isa.  38:1).  The  house 
of  his  armor  —  the  armory  alluded  to  in  22  :  8  as  the  house  of  the 
forest. 

3-7.  Isaiah,  who  is  the  sworn  foe  of  entangling  political  alliances 
(cf.  30:  I  &.),  rightly  fears  the  fatal  consequences  of  such  a  visit, 
and  has  his  prophetic  word  ready  for  the  foolish  king ;  but  it  may 
fairly  be  doubted  whether  vss.  5-7  adequately  represent  Isaiah's 
announcement.  There  is  no  rebuke  of  Hezekiah's  pride  or  of  his 
foreign  leanings,  no  announcement  of  immediate  or  speedy  conse- 

243 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


They  are  come  from  a  far  country  unto  me,  even  from 

4.  Babylon.  Then  said  he,  What  have  they  seen  in  thine 
house?  And  Hezekiah  answered.  All  that  is  in  mine 
house  have  they  seen  :    there  is  nothing  among  my 

5.  treasures  that  I  have  not  showed  them.  Then  said 
Isaiah  to  Hezekiah,  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts. 

6.  Behold,  the  days  come,  that  all  that  is  in  thine  house, 
and  that  which  thy  fathers  have  laid  up  in  store  until 
this  day,  shall  be  carried  to  Babylon  :    nothing  shall 

7.  be  left,  saith  the  Lord.  And  of  thy  sons  that  shall 
issue  from  thee,  which  thou  shalt  beget,  shall  they  take 
away ;   and  they  shall  be  eunuchs  in  the  palace  of  the 

8.  king  of  Babylon.  Then  said  Hezekiah  unto  Isaiah, 
Good  is  the  word  of  the  Lord  which  thou  hast  spoken. 
^  He  said  moreover,  ^  For  there  shall  be  peace  and  truth 
in  my  days. 


Gr.  om.         2  Gr.  let  there  be,  I  pray. 


quences;  but  instead,  a  prediction  of  deportation  and  disgrace 
for  Hezekiah's  posterity  in  the  land  of  Babylon.  In  all  Isaiah's 
genuine  prophecies,  Assyria,  not  Babylon,  is  the  eastern  power  to 
be  reckoned  with ;  nor  is  there  any  hint  that  the  domination  of 
Assyria  is  to  be  followed  by  the  domination  of  Babylon.  This 
prophecy  is  not,  like  Isaiah's  prophecies  in  general,  deeply  rooted 
in  the  contemporary  situation.  Nevertheless  there  is  a  certain 
poetic  truth  in  it ;  it  is  marked  by  that  sense  of  Nemesis  which 
is  so  frequent  in  the  Old  Testament.  From  Babylon  had  come  the 
temptation,  in  Babylon  the  sin  would  be  punished ;  everything  had 
been  displayed  by  Hezekiah,  everything  would  be  taken  to  Babylon. 
8.  Good  :  Hezekiah  listens  with  pious  resignation  to  the  word  of 
doom.  It  does  not  affect  him  personally,  there  is  to  be  peace  and 
stability  in  his  days  —  a  sentiment  which  does  not  raise  our  respect 
for  the  king. 


244 


THE  EXILES'  BOOK   OF   CONSOLATION 

(CHAPS.  40-55) 


THE  EXILES'  BOOK  OF  CONSOLATION   (Chaps. 

40-55) 

I.  Historical  Background  and  Origin  of  the 
Prophecy 

Almost  exactly  two  centuries  elapsed  between  the  call 
of  Isaiah  in  740  B.C.  and  the  pubHcation  of  the  great  proph- 
ecy contained  in  Chaps.  40-55.  Of  the  Assyrian  empire, 
which  constitutes  the  background  of  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah,  we  hear  in  this  prophecy  nothing  whatever;  its 
place  has  been  taken  by  the  Babylonian  empire  (43  :  14 ; 
48  :  20).  The  Assyrians  continued  to  dominate  western 
Asia  for  about  a  hundred  years  after  Isaiah's  death ;  but 
their  empire,  which  towards  the  end  of  that  period  had 
begun  to  totter,  came  to  an  end  in  607  B.C.  with  the  de- 
struction of  their  capital  city,  Nineveh,  by  the  Babylonians, 
whose  empire,  in  its  turn,  lasted  about  seventy  years  (till 
538  B.C.). 

It  is  within  this  period  that  the  exile  falls — that  ex- 
perience which  affected  so  profoundly  the  subsequent 
history,  religion,  and  literature  of  the  Jews.  The  great 
Nebuchadrezzar  came  to  the  throne  in  604  B.C.  As  in  the 
previous  century  the  small  Syrian  kingdoms,  ever  restless 
under  the  Assyrian  yoke,  were  ever  ready  to  throw  it  off 
when  opportunity  offered,  so  it  was  in  Judah  now.  For 
a  few  years  the  king,  Jehoiakim,  son  of  the  reforming  king 
Josiah,  remained  the  nominal  vassal  of  Babylonia ;  but 
at  last  he  revolted,  and  consequently  drew  upon  himself 
and  his  land  the  speedy  vengeance  of  his  overlord.  Neb- 
uchadrezzar appeared  upon  the  scene,  besieged  Jeru- 
salem, plundered  the  temple  and  palace  of  their  treasures, 
and  deported  several  thousand  of  the  most  efficient  in- 

247 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


habitants,  including  Jehoiakim's  son  Jehoiachin,  who,  just 
three  months  before,  had  ascended  the  throne  (2  Kings  24). 
This  was  in  597  B.C.  The  Babylonians  placed  Jehoiakim's 
brother  Zedekiah  upon  the  throne  of  Judah,  and  for  about 
ten  years  he  remained  faithful  in  his  allegiance  to  Babylon. 
Then  he  rebelled,  and  soon  the  Babylonian  hosts  were  round 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  After  a  terrible  siege  of  a  year 
and  a  half  the  city  was  taken,  its  walls  destroyed,  its  temple, 
palace,  and  great  buildings  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the  best 
of  its  inhabitants  carried  away  to  Babylon  —  there  to 
remain  for  nearly  half  a  century  (586-538  B.C.).  This  is 
the  period  known  in  Hebrew  history  as  the  exile. 

Of  this  sorrowful  period  no  history  exists,  and  what  we 
know  of  it  we  know  only  by  inference.  With  the  death 
of  Nebuchadrezzar  in  561  B.C.,  after  a  reign  of  forty- three 
years,  hope  was  temporarily  kindled  in  the  desperate  hearts 
of  the  exiles  by  the  clement  policy  of  his  successor  Evil- 
merodach,  who  showed  particular  favor  to  their  king 
Jehoiachin  by  releasing  him  from  the  prison  in  which  for 
thirty-six  years  he  had  been  languishing  (2  Kings 
25  :  27  ff.).  This  hope  was  probably  extinguished  by  the 
death  of  the  Babylonian  monarch  in  559  B.C.  At  any  rate 
the  Jews  who,  twenty  years  after,  are  addressed  in  Isa. 
40-55,  are  sorrowful  and  disconsolate  enough  (cf.  40  :  i). 

The  control  of  the  Babylonian  empire  passed  in  555  B.C. 
into  the  weak  hands  of  Nabonidus,  who  cared  more  for 
religious  and  antiquarian  interests  than  for  political  and 
military  enterprise.  Suddenly  about  this  time  a  new 
figure  appeared  upon  the  historical  horizon  in  the  person 
of  the  conqueror  Cyrus,  a  Persian,  no  less  gifted  as  a  man 
than  as  a  soldier.  His  w^hole  career  is  a  romance.  With 
almost  incredible  rapidity  he  pursued  his  victorious  way 
through  Asia  (Isa.  41  :  3).  The  Median  empire  fell  before 
him  in  549  B.C.,  and  the  Lydian  empire,  whose  head  was  the 
wealthy  Croesus,  in  546  B.C.;  and  no  doubt  it  is  somew^here 
between  that  date  and  538,  when  Cyrus  captured  Babylon 
and  brought  her  dominion  to  an  end,  that  the  great  anony- 

248 


THE   BOOK   OF   ISAIAH 


mous  prophet  sought  to  comfort  and  stimulate  his  exiled 
brethren  with  the  noble  words  which  now  form  Chaps. 
40-55  of  the  book  of  Isaiah. 

The  Babylonian  background  of  these  chapters  is  as 
plain  as  words  can  make  it.  Jerusalem  and  the  cities  of 
Judah  are  a  desolation,  her  temple  has  been  razed  to  the 
ground  (44  :  26-28  ;  51:3),  her  people  are  languishing 
in  Babylonia  (48  :  20).  Babylon  is  the  empire  which,  for 
her  pride  and  cruelty  (47  :  6) ,  is  doomed  to  speedy  extinc- 
tion ;  and  Babylon's  are  the  gods  on  whom  scornful  rid- 
icule is  poured  (46  :  i).  Cyrus  is  announced  as  the  con- 
queror by  whom  B  ably  on  is  to  be  overthrown  and  Israel 
set  free.  He  it  is  who  will  execute  Jehovah's  purpose  on 
Babylon  (48:  14),  set  free  the  exiles  (45  :  13),  and  rebuild 
Jerusalem  (44  :  28).  To  this  high  task  he  has  been  divinely 
called  (41  :  2,  25),  and  in  it  he  is  divinely  upheld  (45  :  1-5). 
He  is  not  predicted  as  a  figure  of  the  distant  future  ;  he 
is  already  on  the  stage  of  history,  and  well  advanced  on 
his  triumphant  career.  Already  victory  has  attended  his 
every  step  (41  :  2),  and  soon  he  will  burst  Babylon's  gates 
of  bronze  in  sunder  (45  12).  We  shall  not  go  far  wrong 
if  we  set  the  prophecy  about  the  year  540  B.C.  — after  the 
brilliant  successes  of  Cyrus  had  become  matter  of  common 
knowledge,  but  before  his  capture  of  Babylon  (in  538  B.C.). 

II.  The  Prophet's  Message 

Deutero-Isaiah  (that  is,  second  Isaiah)  —  as  this  name- 
less prophet  is  now  commonly  called  —  addressed  himself 
to  the  difficult  task  of  consoHng  his  fellow-countrymen 
in  exile,  and  of  interpreting  for  them  the  signs  of  the  times. 
They  are  despondent.  They  not  unnaturally  imagine  that 
their  God  has  forgotten  or  forsaken  them  (49  :  14),  that  he 
ignores  their  case  and  cares  nothing  for  their  fate  (40  :  27). 
The  prophet's  first  aim  is  therefore  to  inspire  them  with 
his  own  magnificent  conception  of  God.  His  people,  now 
half  a  century  in  exile,  might  well  beUeve  that  the  gods 

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of  Babylon,  Bel,  Nebo,  etc.  (46  :  i),  are  more  powerful 
than  their  own  God  Jehovah.  But  not  so.  Jehovah  is  the 
omnipotent  God  of  the  universe,  the  Creator  and  Lord 
of  the  mountains,  the  world,  the  stars.  This  is  the  real 
significance  of  the  famihar  and  splendid  description  of 
the  power  of  God  in  Chap.  40  :  it  is  meant  to  inspire  a 
broken-hearted  people  with  faith  and  hope.  Israel's  God 
is  the  mighty  God,  never  faint  and  never  weary,  but  ever 
fresh  and  strong,  and  able  to  inspire  the  wxak  and  the  faint 
with  something  of  his  own  strength  (40  :  28  ff.). 

He  is  Lord  of  nature ;  he  is  no  less  Lord  of  history  — 
another  reason  why  the  disconsolate  people  should  take 
courage.  For  he  is  the  First  and  the  Last,  the  Eternal 
One  ;  he  knows  the  end  from  the  beginning  and  announces 
it  through  his  prophets.  All  the  generations  are  his  (41  : 
4),  and  they  are  all  moving  on  to  the  grand  consumma- 
tion, when  they  shall  all  voluntarily  acknowledge  him. 
The  sense  of  purpose  that  runs  through  the  universe  is 
finely  expressed  in  45  :  18  f.,  where  Jehovah  is  represented 
as  creating  the  earth  not  to  be  a  waste,  but  to  be  inhabited 
by  saved  and  happy  men,  and  as  speaking  his  great  word 
of  revelation  to  Israel  and,  through  Israel,  to  the  world, 
plainly  and  in  no  dark  and  mystic  way.  Nature  and 
history  alike  are  pervaded  by  intelligence,^  order,  purpose  ; 
and  the  ultimate  end  of  the  long  series  of  events  we  call 
history  is  that  all  men  should  be  saved.  "Look  unto  me, 
and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth"  (45  :  22). 

This  salvation,  however,  can  only  come  through  a  knowl- 
edge of  God,  of  Israel's  God  —  for  he  alone  is  the  true 
God  (45  :  6) ;  and  this  knowledge  of  God  can  only  be 
mediated  by  Israel,  for  she  alone  possesses  it.  "Surely 
God  is  in  //zee,"  the  foreign  peoples  say  to  her  (45  :  14), 
and  she  alone  is  his  competent  witness  —  "Ye  are  my 
witnesses"  (43  :  10,  12).  Especially  will  Israel  attain  to 
her  power  to  testify  for  him  through  her  experience  of  his 
omnipotent  grace  in  delivering  her  from  exile.     And  here 

^For  "spirit  of  the  Lord"  in  40: 13,  the  Greek  version  suggestively  reads  mind. 
250 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


we  can  see  the  immense  significance,  to  our  prophet,  of 
Cyrus.  He  speaks  of  him  in  language  that  sounds  as 
extravagant  as  it  is  daring,  showering  upon  him  promises 
the  most  lavish  and  titles  the  most  lofty,  like  Jehovah's 
Shepherd  or  Friend,  and  Anointed  (44  :  28  ;  45  :  i)  — 
titles  which,  pronounced  as  they  were  upon  a  foreigner, 
seem  to  have  stirred  the  prophet's  narrow-hearted  country- 
men to  increduHty  and  resentment  (45  19  ff.).  But  it  is 
for  IsraePs  sake  that  Cyrus  has  been  called  and  equipped 
to  do  his  mighty  work  of  overthrowing  Babylon  :  primarily 
for  Israel's  sake,  that  she  may  be  emancipated  and  thus 
enjoy  the  great  experience  of  redemption  (45  : 4) ,  but 
ultimately  for  the  sake  of  the  whole  world  —  "that  they 
may  know  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  and  from  the  west, 
that  there  is  none  beside  me"  (45  :  6).  The  goal  of  history 
is  that  every  knee  shall  bow  to  Jehovah  (45  :  23),  and 
every  soul  confess  with  joy  that  she  belongs  to  him 
(44  :  5).  Thus  Israel  is  Jehovah's  Servant,  for  her  mission 
is  to  bring  the  round  world  to  a  knowledge  of  him  ;  and 
Cyrus  is  his  Anointed  or  Messiah,  for  it  is  through  him  that 
Israel  is  set  free,  thus  winning  her  historic  experience  of 
redemption. 

With  such  a  God,  then,  who  has  shown  both  his  power 
and  his  love  for  her  by  raising  up  Cyrus,  why  should  Israel 
be  depressed  or  afraid?  She  is  indeed  dull  and  irre- 
sponsive, blind  to  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  deaf  to  the 
sound  of  the  divine  footsteps  in  contemporary  history 
(42  :  18)  ;  and  what  she  needs  —  to  come  back  to  the  point 
from  which  we  started  —  is  a  vision  of  God,  of  his  omnip- 
otence and  his  love.  This  it  is  that  will  comfort  (40  :  i), 
encourage,  nerve  her,  if  only  she  can  be  persuaded  to  be- 
Heve  it.  "Fear  not"  is  rung  out  by  the  prophet  again  and 
again  (44  :  2,  8  ;  54  :  4).  Jehovah  is  mighty,  and  as  kind 
and  tender  as  he  is  mighty  (54  :  8),  caring  for  Israel  as  a 
shepherd  for  his  lambs  (40 :  11),  pitying  her  more  than  a 
mother  her  babe  (49  :  15),  sustaining  her  with  a  love  that 
shall  outUve  the  mightiest  and  most  permanent  things  in 

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the  universe  (54 :  10).  Of  these  two  things,  then,  the 
prophet  very  earnestly  seeks  to  convince  his  despondent 
people  —  of  God  and  of  their  high  destiny,  which  is  to 
bring  the  world  to  God.  This  destiny  constitutes  Israel 
in  a  peculiar  sense  his  Servant. 

III.   The  Servant  of  Jehovah 

The  figure  of  the  Servant  —  his  mission,  his  experience, 
and  his  ultimate  destiny  —  is  sketched  more  particularly 
in  four  songs,  42  :  1-4  ;  49  :  1-6  ;  50  :  4-9  ;  and  52  :  13- 
53  :  12,  which  it  has  of  late  become  customary  to  isolate 
from  the  body  of  the  poem  and  consider  independently. 
These  songs  reveal  a  certain  progressive  development  in 
their  idea  of  the  Servant.  The  first  (42  :  1-4)  concentrates 
attention  upon  his  mission,  which  is  to  bring  the  true 
religion  to  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  upon  the  kind  and 
unobtrusive  way  in  which  he  is  to  accomplish  it.  The 
second  (49  :  1-6)  touches  upon  his  divine  equipment  for 
that  mission,  and  upon  the  sorrow  and  seeming  futility 
which  has  thus  far  attended  his  efforts  (49  :  4).  The  third 
(50 : 4-9)  describes  more  explicitly  the  sorrow  and  the 
opposition  he  had  to  endure  (50  :  6),  but  sets  over  against 
this  his  invincible  faith  in  God  and  his  splendid  confidence 
in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  cause  he  represents.  The 
chmax  of  the  description  is  reached  in  the  fourth  song 
(52 :  13-53  '12),  which  elaborates  with  very  striking 
concrete  detail  the  sufferings  of  the  Servant,  and  shows 
him  in  the  end  crowned  with  glory  and  honor. 

Who  is  this  Servant  ?  This  question  has  been  hotly 
debated  in  recent  years,  and  the  answers  to  it  divide  the 
critical  camp.  After  the  argument  of  the  previous  chapter, 
it  is  most  natural  to  suppose  that  Israel  is  the  Servant,  as, 
indeed,  in  the  body  of  the  prophecy  he  is  repeatedly  and 
unambiguously  called  ( cf>4i  :  8  ;  44  :  i,  21  ;  45  :  4  ;  48  :  20). 
But  for  several  reasons  objection  has  been  taken  to  this 
view.     The  temper  of  the  songs  differs,  it  is  argued,  from 

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that  of  the  prophecy.  The  prophecy  brings  before  us 
the  real  Israel,  irresponsive,  blind,  and  deaf  (42  :  18  ff.); 
the  Servant  of  the  songs  is  an  exalted  figure  to  whom  this 
description  would  be  quite  inappropriate.  The  Servant 
of  the  songs  suffers  for  sins  that  were  not  his  own  (53  :  4-6) ; 
in  the  prophecy  it  is  for  her  own  sins  that  Israel  suffers 
(40  :  2).  In  the  prophecy,  the  foreign  nations  are  looked 
upon  with  less  generous  and  sympathetic  eyes  —  the 
impending  downfall  of  Babylon,  for  example,  is  celebrated 
in  a  scornful  elegy  (Chap.  47)  ;  in  the  songs,  the  Servant 
is  to  be  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  and  to  carry  the  salvation 
of  Jehovah  to  the  end  of  the  earth  (49  :  6).  In  general, 
the  Servant  of  the  songs  is  supremely  interested  in  the 
heathen;  in  the  prophecy,  Israel  is  more  interested  in 
herself,  especiaily  in  Chaps.  49-55,  where  attention  gathers 
largely  upon  the  coming  welfare  and  glory  of  Zion. 

For  these  and  other  reasons  it  has  been  maintained  by 
many  scholars  that  the  Servant  of  the  songs  cannot  be  the 
Israel  of  the  prophecy,  the  actual  historical  Israel,  with 
her  blindness  and  her  sin  ;  but  that,  if  the  term  be  collective 
at  all,  it  must  refer  either  to  ideal  Israel  —  Israel,  not  as 
she  is  in  reality,  but  as  she  is  in  the  purpose  of  God  and  in  the 
light  of  her  mission  and  destiny  —  or  to  the  group  of  faith- 
ful souls,  in  whom  this  ideal  found  its  concrete  embodi- 
ment. Others  deny  the  collective  application  in  the  songs 
altogether,  and  regard  the  Servant  there  as  an  individual. 

Some  encouragement  has  been  given  to  this  latter  view 
by  two  circumstances,  (i)  Once  or  twice  ^  the  Servant 
seems  to  be  expressly  distinguished  from  Israel :  for  ex- 
ample, in  49  :  5  f.,  where,  according  to  the  common  English 
translation,  his  primary  task  is  "to  bring  Jacob  again  to 
Jehovah,"  "to  raise  up  the  tribes  of  Jacob  and  to  restore 
the  preserved  of  Israel."  But  these  verses  ^  can  be  fairly 
read  to  imply  no  more  than  that  the  restoration  of  Israel  is 

1  In  53;  8  for  "transgression  of  my  people,"  we  should  perhaps  read  either  "for 
our  transgressions"  or  "for  the  transgression  of  the  peoples."  The  change  in  Hebrew 
would  be  exceedmgly  simple.     2  See  the  commentary. 

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to  be  effected  by  Jehovah ;  and  then  Israel,  thus  restored  by 
him,  is  to  be  a  light  to  the  Gentiles.  (2)  Again,  the  de- 
scription of  the  Servant,  especially  in  Chap.  53,  is  so  highly 
individualized,  it  is  argued,  as  to  necessitate  an  individual 
interpretation,  the  collective  reference  being  unnatural 
and  improbable,  if  not  altogether  impossible ;  and  Je- 
hoiachin,  Zerubbabel,  some  Messianic  king,  have  been 
thought  of.  But  here  we  have  to  remember  how  much 
more  easy  personification  has  always  been  to  the  Oriental 
than  to  us,  and  how  much  more  ready  he  is  to  work  out 
in  minute  detail  a  personification  upon  which  once  he  has 
entered.  "The  whole  head  is  sick,"  says  Isaiah,  of  Judah, 
''and  the  whole  heart  faint.  From  the  sole  of  the  foot 
even  unto  the  head  there  is  no  soundness  in  it ;  but  wounds, 
and  bruises,  and  festering  sores  :  they  have  not  been  closed, 
neither  bound  up,  neither  mollified  with  oil"  (i  :  5  f.)  ;  and 
Ezekiel  (Chaps.  16  and  23)  describes  the  national  careers  of 
Israel  and  Judah  in  terms  of  the  experience  of  two  unfaith- 
ful women,  elaborating  his  comparison  with  detail  of  the 
most  painfully  concrete  kind.  The  fact,  then,  that  the 
description  of  the  Servant  is  so  highly  individualized  is 
no  proof  that  he  is  an  individual;  consequently  we  are  free 
to  consider  the  possibility  of  his  being  the  people  —  Israel. 
It  is  something  in  favor  of  this  interpretation  that  every- 
where in  the  body  of  the  prophecy  the  Servant  is  un- 
doubtedly Israel  (cf.  41  :  8).  Once  even  in  the  songs,  the 
Servant  is  expUcitly  addressed  as  Israel  (49  : 3),  and  the 
Greek  version  of  42  :  i  reads  ^^ Jacob  my  servant"  and 
^^ Israel  my  chosen."  Even  if  these  be  all  late  insertions, 
they  are  at  any  rate  evidence  for  the  view  that  the  ser- 
vant was  very  early  regarded  as  Israel.  The  context  of 
the  songs  strongly  suggests  that  they  are  integral  to  the 
prophecy,  and  that  their  theme  is  the  same.  42  :  6,  "I  will 
give  thee  for  a  Hght  of  the  Gentiles,"  clearly  points  back 
to  the  first  song  (42  :  1-4);  and  52  :  10,  ''The  Lord  hath 
made  bare  his  holy  arm,"  as  clearly  prepares  the  way  for 
the  last  (52  :  13-53  •  12  ;    cf.  53  :  i,  "to  whom  hath  the 

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arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed?  ")•  Cross  references  be- 
tween the  songs  and  the  prophecy  are  numerous ;  and, 
in  cases  where  the  phraseology  is  almost  identical,  it  is 
most  natural  to  interpret  the  possibly  ambiguous  references 
of  the  songs  by  the  unambiguous  references  of  the  prophecy. 
For  example. 

Attend  unto  me,  0  my  people, 

And  give  ear  unto  me,  0  my  nation;^ 

For  a  law  shall  go  forth  from  me. 
And  my  judgement  for  a  light  of  the  peoples  (51:4). 

Here  the  allusion  to  the  first  song  (42  :  1-4)  is  unmistak- 
able. Here  (in  51  : 4)  it  is  the  people  who  are  addressed; 
why  not  then  also  in  42  :  1-4?  So  also  51  :  8,  admittedly 
addressed  to  the  people  (cf.  vs.  7),  unmistakably  recalls 
50 :  9,  where  the  Servant  speaks. 

Another  argument  which  makes  strongly  for  the  col- 
lective and  against  the  individual  interpretation  is  the  large 
outlook  of  the  passages  which  describe  the  work  the  Ser- 
vant is  commissioned  to  do,  and  the  impression  made  by 
his  sufferings  and  triumph.  His  mission  is  to  the  world, 
and  it  is  whole  nations  that  are  astonished  at  his  humiliation 
and  exaltation  (52  :  14  f.).  All  this  seems  to  point  most 
naturally  to  experiences  upon  a  national  scale ;  it  is  the 
fortunes  of  a  people  rather  than  of  an  indi\'idual  that  are 
watched  by  the  world.  Further,  the  function  of  the  Ser- 
vant in  bringing  religion  and  justice  to  the  Gentiles  (42  :  i- 
4)  is  curiously  paralleled  by  the  noble  prophecy  in  2  :  2-4, 
which  pictures  the  nations  as  flocking  for  justice  to  Jeru- 
salem. All  these  considerations  strongly  suggest  that 
in  the  songs,  as  in  the  prophecy,  the  Servant  is  Israel. 
The  outlook  in  both  upon  the  world  is  much  the  same ; 
there  is  only  a  difference  in  emphasis.  Certainly  in  the 
prophecy  —  especially  towards  the  close  —  Zion   and  her 

1  Even  if,  with  Duhm,  Cheyne,  Marti,  Box,  we  delete  0  my  nation  as  metrically 
superfluous,  and  as  a  corruption  of  the  two  preceding  Hebrew  words,  the  argument  13 
unaffected.  0  my  people  in  the  first  clause  stands,  and  the  context  shows  that  the 
address  is  to  Israel  (vss.  1,7). 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


fortunes  occupy  the  foreground,  but  the  welfare  of  the 
wider  world  is  never  forgotten.  Israel's  salvation  is  but 
the  first  step  to  the  salvation  of  the  world.  It  was  first 
''for  Jacob  my  servant's  sake"  that  Cyrus  was  called  to 
the  overthrow  of  Babylon  (45:4),  but  ultimately  that 
across  the  world  from  east  to  west  men  might  acknowledge 
Jehovah  (45  :  6),  that  to  him  every  knee  might  bow  and 
every  tongue  swear   (45  :  23). 

Not  even  the  songs  open  a  wider  or  more  brilliant 
prospect  than  that.  But  the  final  conversion  of  the 
heathen  receives  in  the  last  song  peculiarly  pathetic  and 
significant  expression.  It  takes  the  form  of  a  confession 
that  the  sins  for  which  Jehovah's  servant  suffered  so 
tragically  were  not  his  own,  but  theirs  (Chap.  53).^  In  this 
penitent  appreciation  of  the  Servant  and  his  sufferings, 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen  world  is  practically  attested, 
and  the  prophet's  dream  is  ideally  fulfilled.  The  Ser- 
vant is  now  vindicated,  his  mission  is  accomplished,  the 
world  is  converted  ;  and  in  this  crowning  song  the  prophet's 
most  daring  hopes  find  an  embodiment  as  beautiful  as  it 
is  immortal. 

Throughout  the  Servant  songs,  Israel  is  ideally  conceived. 
They  are  not  a  description,  but  a  splendidly  original  in- 
terpretation, of  her  sufferings  and  destiny.  Doubtless 
the  nation  never  did,  as  a  nation,  fulfil  the  wonderful 
programme  sketched  for  her  in  these  songs  by  one  of  her 
greatest  sons  ;  and  it  was  a  true  instinct  that  led  the 
New  Testament  Church  to  see  in  it  an  adumbration  of  the 
sufferings,  the  work,  and  the  triumph  of  our  Lord  (Mat. 
12  :  18-21;  Acts  8  :  32-35,  etc.). 

IV.   The  Style  of  Deutero-Isaiah 

The  style  of  Chaps.  40-55  is  very  different  from  that  of 
Isaiah  himself.     Isaiah  is  incisive ;    this  writer  tends  to 

1  In  vss.  i-ii,  the  heathen  (cf.  52 ;  15)  appear  to  be  the  speakers.  See  the  com- 
mentary. 


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an  agreeable  diffuseness  —  agreeable,  because  he  too, 
like  Isaiah,  is  a  great  master  of  the  music  of  human  speech, 
and  can  express  the  few  great  thoughts  which  stir  him  with 
endless  variety.  Both  display  great  powers  of  imagina- 
tion ;  but  in  tliis,  as  in  other  respects,  "Isaiah  is  very  bold," 
the  writer  of  these  chapters  is  less  daring,  more  soft  and 
tender.  Especially  does  his  imagination  Idndle  when 
he  thinks  of  his  beloved  Zion  and  the  glory  that  he  antici- 
pates for  her  in  the  near  future.  Nowhere  has  this  re- 
ceived more  beautiful  expression  than  in  the  noble  picture 
of  mother  Zion,  welcoming  back,  with  wonder  in  her  eyes, 
the  multitude  of  her  scattered  children.  They  are  so 
many  that  the  old  city  is  too  small  for  them,  and  she  can- 
not bring  herself  to  believe  that  these  thronging  hosts  are 
hers  (49: 18-21). 

The  poet  is  calling  upon  the  city  to  hft  up  her  eyes  and 
behold  the  returning  children  she  had  never  thought  to 
see  again : 

Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about  and  behold 

How  they  gather  together. 
And  thou  shalt  be  gaily  adorned  with  them, 

As  a  bride  with  her  girdle. 
And  thou  shalt  have  scarce  room  enough  for  them  all  — 

When  far  off  are  the  spoilers. 
Then  this  cry  shall  resound  in  thine  ears  from  the  sons 

Whom  thou  long  wast  bereft  of : 
"This  place  is  too  strait  and  too  narrow  for  me. 

Give  me  more  room  to  dwell  in." 
Then  indeed  shalt  thou  marvel  and  say  in  thine  heart, 

"Who  hath  borne  me  these  children? 
For  all  unfruitful  and  childless  am  I : 

Who  hath  brought  up  these  children  ? 
As  for  me,  I  was  lonely  and  desolate ;  say, 

Who  then  are  these  children?" 


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THE   BOOK   OF   ISAIAH 


ANALYSIS  OF  CHAPTERS  40-55 

Jehovah  the  Omnipotent  is  about  to  usher  in  the  Day  of  Israel's 
Deliverance  (Chaps.  40-48) 

1.  Jehovah  is  Lord  of  nature  and  history  (chaps.  40  and  41). 

(i)   Redemption  is  nigh  (40  :  i-ii). 

(2)   The  sovereignty  and  omnipotence  of  God  as  seen  in  nature 

(40:12-31). 
is)   The  sovereignty  of  God  as  seen  in  history,  and  especially  in  the 

rise  of  Cyrus  (chap.  41). 

2.  The  servant  (Israel),  his  task  and  destiny  (42  : 1-44  :  23). 

(i)  The  servant's  task  (42  :  1-9). 

(2)  The  new  song  (42  :  10-13). 

(3)  Jehovah  at  last  bestirs  himself  (42  :  14-17). 

(4)  A  call  for  responsiveness  on  Israel's  part  (42  :  18-25). 

(5)  Jehovah  will  show  his  love  for  Israel  by  gathering  her  exiles 

home  (43  : 1-7). 

(6)  Israel  is  Jehovah's  witness  to  the  world  (43  :  8-13). 

(7)  The  deliverance  from  Babylon  more  wonderful  than  the  de- 

liverance from  Egypt  (43  :  14-21). 

(8)  Israel's  restoration   is  due  not   to   her  own  merits,   but  to 

Jehovah's  free  grace  (43  :  22-44  :  5)- 

(9)  Israel's  God  is  sovereign  and  eternal  (44  :  6-8). 

(10)  The  folly  of  idolatry  (44  :  9-20). 

(11)  Let  the  world  rejoice  over  Israel's  redemption  (44  :  21-23), 

3.  Cyrus  and  the  overthrow  of  Babylon  (44  :  24-48  :  22). 

(i)   Jehovah  calls  Cyrus  and  bestows  upon  him  a  career  of  victory, 
for  Israel  and  the  world's  sake  (44  :  24-45  :  8) . 

(2)  Murmurs  against  Cyrus  (45  :  9-13)- 

(3)  The  heathen  acknowledged  the  uniqueness  of  Israel  and  her 

God  (45  :  14-17)- 

(4)  Jehovah  desires  the  salvation  of  the  whole  world  (45  :  18-25). 

(5)  The  downfall  of  Babylon's  gods  (chap.  46). 

(6)  The  downfall  of  Babylon  (chap.  47). 

(7)  The  simiraons  to  depart  from  Babylon  (chap.  48). 


The  Restoration  op  Israel  and  the  Future  Glory  of  Zion 
(Chaps.  49-55) 

The  Servant  discouraged,  but  at  last  triumphant  (49  :  1-13). 

(i)   The  Servant :    his    seeming    failure    and    his    great    destiny 

(49:1-6). 
(2)   Israel's  happy  return  and  restoration  (49  :  7-13). 

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2.  The  consolation  of  Zion  (49  :  14-50  :  3)- 

(i)   Wasted  Zion  will  be  rebuilt  and    filled    again  with  people 

(49: 14-21). 
(2)   Three  words  of  consolation  (49  :  22-50  : 3). 

3.  The  Servant  tried  but  trusting  (50  :  4-1 1). 

4.  Words  of  encouragement  and  promise  (51  :  1-52  :  12). 

(i)   Deliverance  is  near  and  sure  (51  :  1-16). 

(2)   Jerusalem's    affliction :     her    speedy    redemption    and    glory 
(SI  :  17-52  :  12). 

5.  The  humiliation  and  exaltation  of  the  servant  (52  :  13-53  :  12). 

(i)   The  Servant :  his  sufferings  and  his  great  glory  (52  :  13-53  :  i)- 

(2)  The  sorrows,  humiliation,  and  death  of  the  servant  (53  :  2-9). 

(3)  The  Servant's  ultimate  glory  and  exaltation  (53  :  10-12). 

6.  The  future  glory  of  Jerusalem  (chap.  54) . 

(i)   The  new  Jerusalem  will  be  large  and  populous,    and  blessed 

with  the  steadfast  favor  of  God  (54  :  i-io). 
(2)   The  new  Jerusalem  will  be  fair  and  impregnable  (54  :  11-17). 

7.  Invitation  to  embrace  the  impending  salvation  (chap.  55). 

(i)   The  blessings  in  store  for  Israel  (55  :  1-5). 
(2)   The  wonderful  salvation  is  near :    forth  then  from  Babylon 
(55:6-13). 


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THE   EXILES'    BOOK    OF   CONSOLATION    (Chaps. 

40-55) 

PART  I 

Jehovah  the  Omnipotent  is  about  to  usher  in  the        40 : 2 
Day  of  Israel's  Deliverance  (Chaps.  40-48) 

The  Glorious  News  —  Redemption  is  Nigh  (40:  i-ii) 

40.  "Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my  people," 

Saith  your  God. 
2.  ^  "  Speak  ye  ^  comfortably  to  Jerusalem, 

And  cry  unto  her, 

1  Gr.  ye  priests,  speak,  etc.        2  pieb.  to  the  heart  of. 

Chaps.  40-48.  As  we  have  seen,  the  time  is  about  540  B.C.,  the 
place  is  Babylonia,  the  people  addressed  are  the  disconsolate 
Hebrew  exiles,  the  speaker  is  a  prophet  whose  name  is  unknown. 
His  task  is  no  easy  one.  The  men  whom  he  seeks  to  inspire  with 
comfort  and  hope  are  men  who  believe  that  God  has  forsaken  and 
forgotten  them  (40:  27),  and  he  seeks  to  confirm  their  shattered 
faith  by  confronting  them  with  his  own  magnificent  conception  of 
God  as  the  only  and  incomparable  Lord  of  nature  and  history. 

1.  Comfort,  the  key-note  of  the  prophecy;  twice  repeated,  for 
the  people  are  despondent  (vs.  27),  and  such  a  message  is  all  but 
incredible.  Ye,  plural ;  the  command  is  addressed  to  the  prophet 
and  to  all  who,  Hke  him,  have  the  power  to  comfort.  That  power 
depended  upon  the  power  to  hear  the  voice  of  God  in  the  events  of 
the  times ;  your  God  saith,  is  continually  speaking  in  those  events 
—  though  there  were  few  who  could,  like  this  prophet,  interpret 
the  real  significance  for  Israel  of  the  victorious  progress  of  Cyrus. 

2.  Comfortably  —  home  to  the  heart  of  id.  margin),  as  a  man 
speaks  to  a  maid  whom  he  woos.      Warfare,  i.e.  time  of  sore 

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That  her  ^  warfare  is  accomplished, 

That  her  iniquity  is  pardoned ; 
That  she  hath  received  of  the  Loed's  hand 

Double  for  all  her  sins." 

Mat.  3:3        3.       The  voice  of  one  that  crieth,  "Prepare  ye  in  the  wil- 

Lk.  3 : 4  ff.  aerness 

Jn- 1 :  23  The  way  of  the  Lord, 

Make  straight  ^  in  the  desert 
A  high  way  for  our  God. 

4.  Every  valley  shall  be  exalted, 

And  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made  low  : 
And  ^  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight. 
And  the  rough  places  ^  plain  :" 

5.  And  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed. 
And  all  flesh  shall  see  ^  it  together; 

For  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

6.  The  voice  of  one  saying,  "Cry." 

And  ^one  said,  "What  shall  I  cry  ?" 


1  m.  ttTne  of  service.    2  Gr.  om.  in  the  desert.     ^  m.  SV  the  uneven  shall  be  made  level. 
*  m.  SV  a  plain.    *  Gr.  the  salvation  of  God,  cf .  Lk.  3:6.    *  Gr.  Vg.  /  said. 


service.     Double  perhaps  means  no  more  than  that  Jerusalem's 
punishment  (in  exile)  has  been  thorough. 

Prepare  for  Jehovah's  coming  (vss.  3-5) 

3.  The  -voice  =  hark!  The  prophet  hears  a  supernatural  voice. 
Jehovah  is  to  march  at  the  head  of  his  people  across  the  wilderness 
from  Babylon  to  Palestine,  and  the  way  for  him  must  be  prepared, 
made  straight  and  plain  —  without  heights  or  hollows  (vs.  4). 
The  literal  meaning  melts  into  the  figurative ;  the  whole  historical 
situation  is  about  to  be  transformed.  To  the  keen  eyes  of  the 
prophet  the  glory  of  Jehovah  was  already  shimmering  through  the 
clouds. 

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"All  flesh  is  grass, 
And  all  the  ^  goodhness  thereof  is  as  the  flower  of  the  j^g  '^f  ** 
field: 

7.  2  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth  ; 

Because  the  breath  of  the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it : 
Surely  the  people  is  grass. 

8.  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth  ; 

But  the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  for  ever." 

9.  ^  O  thou  that  tellest  good  tidings  to  Zion, 

Get  thee  up  into  the  high  mountain  ; 
^  0  thou  that  tellest  good  tidings  to  Jerusalem, 

Lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength  ; 
Lift  it  up. 

Be  not  afraid ; 
Say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah, 

"Behold,  your  God!" 

1  Gr.  glory  of  man.  2  Gr.  om.  vs.  7.  ^  m.  AV  0  Zion,  thai  bringesl  good  tidings. 
*  m.  AV  0  Jerusalem,  that  bringest  good  tidings. 

The  Prophet's  Message ;  Nothing  is  Eternal  hut  the  Divine  Purpose 
(vss.  6-8) 

This  is  the  theme  of  vss.  12-31.  Another  supernatural  voice 
urges  the  prophet  to  proclaim  the  inevitable  decay  of  all  flesh, 
i.e.  of  the  mighty  heathen  empires,  like  the  Babylonian,  which 
were  not  in  line  with  the  purpose  of  God.  They  wither,  as  the 
breath  of  Jehovah,  the  hot  wind  from  the  desert,  withers  the 
flowers.  But  the  word  of  our  God,  i.e.  his  great  purpose  as  pro- 
claimed and  interpreted  by  the  prophets,  —  his  world-plan,  which 
needs  Israel  for  its  reahzation,  —  that  is  eternal.  Surely  the  people 
is  grass  (vs.  7)  is  rightly  regarded  by  Cheyne  as  a  ''  weak  homileti- 
cal  addition." 

Declare  the  Glad  News:   Jehovah  is  coming  (vss.  9-1 1) 

9.  The  way  is  prepared  for  his  coming  (vs.  3),  the  messengers 
are  to  climb  the  heights,  and  loudly  proclaim  —  the  moment  they 
catch  sight  of  him  —  Behold  your  God. 

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4o:io  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Rom. 


10.  Behold,  the  Lord  God  will  come  ^  as  a  mighty  one, 

And  his  arm  shall  rule  for  him  : 
Behold,  his  reward  is  with  him. 
And  his  recompence  before  him. 

11.  He  shall  feed  his  flock  Hke  a  shepherd, 

He  shall  gather  the  lambs  in  his  arm. 
And  carry  them  in  his  bosom. 
And  shall  gently  lead  those  that  give  suck. 

The  Sovereignty  and  Omnipotence  of  God  as  seen  in  Nature 
(40:  12-31) 

1 2 .  Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand, 

And  meted  out  heaven  with  the  span, 
And  comprehended  ^  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure, 
And  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales. 

And  the  hills  in  a  balance  ? 

13.  Who  hath  ^  directed  the  ^  spirit  of  the  Lord, 


34  i.  Or  being  his  counsellor  hath  taught  him  ? 

I  Cor.  2  :  16      

1  Gr.  Syr.  Tar.  Vg.  with  strength.  2  Gr.  all  the  earth.  ^  m.  meted  out ;  Gr.  known. 
*  Gr.  mind. 

10  f.  With  his  mighty  arm,  he  secures  for  his  people  salvation, 
here  described  as  his  reward  —  their  redemption  from  Babylon 
and  return  to  Palestine.  The  mighty  conqueror,  who  wins  their 
victory,  is  the  gentle  shepherd,  who  tenderly  guides  them  home; 
a  fine  combination. 

40:  12-31.  The  magnificent  description  of  the  might  and  wis- 
dom of  God  which  follows  is  intended  to  reassure  the  despondent 
(vs.  27).  There  is  no  danger  that  the  purpose  of  God  (vs.  8), 
which  involves  the  deliverance  of  Israel,  will  be  frustrated ;  for 
all  power  is  his.  This  is  illustrated  fully  on  the  arena  of  nature 
and,  briefly,  in  history. 

Jehovah  is  Peerless  in  Wisdom  and  Might  (vss.   12-16) 

12  f.  The  majesty  and  order  of  nature  testify  to  his  incomparable 
might  and  intelligence.  Spirit,  here  d\Taost  =  mind  (so  Gr.). 
Jehovah  is  alone. 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  40:19 


14.  With  whom  took  he  counsel,  and  who  instructed  him, 
And  taught  him  in  the  path  of  judgement  ^  and  taught 

him  knowledge, 
And  shewed  him  the  way  of  understanding  ? 

15.  Behold,  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  of  a  bucket. 

And  are  counted  as  the  ^  small  dust  of  the  balance : 
^  Behold,  he  taketh  up  the  isles  as  a  very  httle  thing. 

16.  And  Lebanon  is  not  sufficient  to  burn, 

Nor  the  beasts  thereof  sufficient  for  a  burnt  offering. 

17.  All  the  nations  are  as  nothing  before  him ; 

They  are  counted  to  him  less  than  nothing,  and 
^  vanity. 

18.  To  whom  then  will  ye  Hken  God? 

Or  what  likeness  will  ye  compare  unto  him? 

19.  The  graven  image,  a  workman  melted  it, 

1  Gr.  om.  2  Gr.  turning.  ^  Gr.  they  sfiall  be  counted  as  spittle.  *  Heb.  chaos  (cf. 
Gen.  1 :  2). 

14.  The  Greek  version  rightly  omits  and  taught  him  knowledge. 
The  path  of  judgement,  of  right,  i.e.  the  right  control  of  history. 

15.  Like  a  drop /row  (almost  =  o«)  a  bucket,  or  Hke  dust,  etc.; 
of  no  appreciable  weight,  insignificant.  Isles,  usually  =  coast- 
lands  (cf.  20:  6),  in  DeuteroTsaiah  practically  =  lands.  A  very 
little  thing,  something  _^He,  Hke  manna  (Exod.  16 :  14). 

16.  For  such  a  God,  no  sacrifice  would  be  adequate.  A  verse 
of  splendid  imagination ;  not  all  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  enough  for 
altar  fires,  nor  all  the  beasts  that  roam  her  forests  enough  for  sacri- 
fice. 

The  Folly  of  worshipping  such  a  God  by  Images  (vss.  17-20) 

lyf.  Less  than  may  be  omitted.  Vanity,  chaos  (Gen.  1:2).  If 
even  nations  are  nothing,  how  great  the  folly  of  likening  God  to 
anything ! 

19.  This  is  the  first  of  the  prophet's  attacks  on  idolatry  (cf. 
44:9-20;  46:1-7),  which  was  rampant  in  Babylon.  The  pa- 
thetic folly  of  it  he  illustrates  by  an  ironically  realistic  description 

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And  the  goldsmith  spreadeth  it  over  with  gold, 
^  And  casteth  for  it  silver  chains. 

20.  ^  He  that  is  too  impoverished  for  such  an  oblation 

Chooseth  a  tree  that  will  not  rot ; 
He  seeketh  unto  him  a  cunning  workman 
To  set  up  a  graven  image,  that  shall  not  be  moved. 

21.  Have  ye  not  known?  have  ye  not  heard? 

Hath  it  not  been  told  you  from  the  beginning  ? 
Have  ye  not  ^  understood 

From  the  foundations  of  the  earth  ? 

22.  //  is  he  that  sitteth  ^  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth, 

And  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grasshoppers  ; 

1  Gr.  he  fashioned  it  as  a  likeness.    ^  Gr.  an  artificer  clwoseth,  etc.    ^  m.  Gr.  Syr. 
Vg.  understood  the  foundations.    ^  m.   SV  above. 


of  the  process  of  idol  manufacture.     Omit  and  casteth  for  it  silver 
chains. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  this  verse  should  be  followed  by 
41 :  6,  7,  which  are  clearly  not  in  place  where  they  now  stand. 
There  is  grim  humor  in  this  description  (41  :  6  f.)  of  the  workmen 
cheering  each  other  up,  while  they  are  fabricating  the  image. 
That  it  should  not  he  moved  has  probably  crept  in  from  40 :  20, 
where  it  is  original.  The  precautions  taken  to  keep  the  image  from 
toppling  over  show  the  absurdity  of  idolatry. 

20.  He  that  is  too  impoverished  for  such  an  oblation,  for  several 
reasons,  can  hardly  be  right.  With  two  slight  changes  in  the  text, 
Duhm  reads,  he  who  carves  an  linage.  Apparently  in  19  f.  as  in 
44:  12  ff.,  two  kinds  of  images  are  described — first  metal,  and 
then  wood. 

God^s  Control  of  Nature  and   History  (vss.  21-26) 

21.  The  power  of  God  ought  to  be  known,  familiar,  to  every  one 
who  contemplates  nature.  In  any  case,  the  story  of  it  must  be 
familiar,  handed  on  as  it  was  by  tradition  from  the  most  ancient 
times  and  recorded  in  one  of  Israel's  own  books  (Gen.  2).  Read, 
"  do  you  not  know  .  .  .  hear?  " 

22.  From  his  throne  in  heaven  high  above  the  earth,  men  look 
like  grasshoppers.     A  curtain,  gauze. 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  40:26 


^  That  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  as  ^  a  curtain, 
And  spreadeth  them  out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in : 

23.  That  bringeth  princes  to  nothing  ; 

He  maketh  the  judges  of  the  earth  as  ^  vanity. 

24.  ^  Yea,  they  have  not  been  planted  ; 

Yea,  they  have  not  been  sown ; 

Yea,  their  stock  hath  not 

Taken  root  in  the  earth  : 
Moreover  he  bloweth  upon  them,  and  they  wither, 

And  the  whirlwind  taketh  them  away  as  stubble. 

25.  To  whom  then  will  ye  liken  me. 

That  I  should  be  equal  to  him  ?  saith  the  Holy  One. 

26.  Lift  up  your  eyes  on  high, 

^  And  see  who  hath  created  these. 

That  bringeth  out  their  host  by  number  ; 

He  calleth  them  all  by  name  ; 
By  the  greatness  of  his  might,  and  ^  for  that  he  is  strong 
in  power. 

Not  one  is  lacking. 

1  Gr.  that  set  up  the  heaven  as  a  vaulted  chamber.  2  xn.  gauze.  '  Heb.  chaos  (cf. 
vs.  17).  *  m.  scarce  are  they  planted,  scarce  are  they  sown,  scarce  hath  their  stock  taken 
root  in  the  earth,  when  he  bloweth  upon  them.  ^  m.  and  see;  who  hath  created  these?  he 
that,  etc.    *  Gr.  by  the  strength  of  his  power. 

23  f.  He  is  Lord  of  history,  as  of  nature  (vs.  22).  Mighty 
princes  had  within  the  last  few  years  been  defeated  by  Cyrus 
(cf.  41:2),  his  anointed  (45:1).  Vs.  24  becomes  plain  in  the 
margin:  scarcely  are  they  planted  .  .  .  when  he  blows  {d.  vss.  6-8). 

25  f.  There  can  be  no  image  of  one  who  controls  history  and 
created  the  stars.  These,  the  stars ;  they  are  conceived  as  an 
army  —  as  living  things  which  come  forth,  like  soldiers,  from  their 
place  when  Jehovah  summons  them  by  name  —  they  obey. 
Read :  by  reason  of  the  greatness  of  (his)  might  and  the  strength  of 
(his)  power,  not  one  is  missing. 

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27.  Why  sayest  thou,  O  Jacob, 

And  speakest,  O  Israel, 
"  My  way  is  hid  from  the  Lord, 
And  my  judgement  is  passed  away  from  my  God"  ? 

28.  Hast  thou  not  known  ? 

Hast  thou  not  heard  ? 
^  The  everlasting  God,  the  Lord,   , 
The  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth, 

Fainteth  not,  neither  is  weary  ; 
There  is  no  searching  of  his  understanding. 

29.  He  giveth  power  to  the  faint ; 

And  to    him    that   hath  no   might   he   increaseth 
strength. 

30.  Even  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary, 

And  the  young  men  shall  utterly  fall : 

31.  But  they  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their 

strength; 
They  ^  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  ; 

^m.  the  LORD  is  an  everlasting  God,  tJie  Creator  .  .  .  he  fainteth  not,  etc.  2  Gr. 
Vg.  put  forth  new  pinions. 

Trust  brings  Strength   (vss.  27-31) 

27.  The  cumulative  force  of  the  long  argument  for  the  power  of 
God  is  now  driven  home  with  overwhelming  cogency  and  earnest- 
ness upon  the  despondent  people  who  had  begun  to  doubt  the 
power  and  the  love  of  their  God.  Way=/a/e.  My  judgment  = 
my  case,  the  justice  of  my  cause.     Passed  away  from  =  ignored  by. 

28  f.  Read,  an  everlasting  God  is  Jehovah  .  .  .  he  fainteth  not. 
He  is  full  of  strength  and  wisdom.  So  far  is  he  from  being  faint 
himself  that  he  gives  power  to  the  faint  —  the  spiritually  faint,  as 
vs.  31  shows. 

30  f .  Physical  strength  will  fail ;  but  patient  faith  in  God 
enables  a  man  to  soar,  as  on  eagles'  wings,  above  the  disappoint- 
ments of  the  present,  towards  the  sure  and  blessed  future.  This 
utterance  from  a  time  of  national  despair  (vs.  27)  is  itself  a  brill- 
iant illustration  of  that  faith  which  can  see  beyond  the  sorrow  of 

268 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  41:1 


They  shall  run,  and  not  be  weary  ; 
They  shall  walk,  and  not  faint. 

The  Sovereignty  of  God  as  seen  in  History,  and  especially 
in  the  Rise  0}  Cyrus  (Chap.  41) 

41.  ^  Keep  silence  before  me,  0  islands  ; 

And  let  the  peoples  renew  their  strength  : 

1  Gr.  hold  a  feast  of  consecration. 


the  night  to  the  joy  that  cometh  in  the  morning.  For  they 
mount,  etc.,  read  rather,  they  putfo'ih  as  it  tvere  eagles'  wings. 

Chap.  41.  The  prophet  had  sought,  in  Chap.  40,  to  comfort  and 
stimulate  the  disconsolate  people  by  passing  before  them  the 
panorama  of  nature,  with  its  mighty  testimony  to  the  power  and 
wisdom  of  God.  Now  he  passes  from  nature  to  history,  upon 
which  he  had  already  shghtly  touched  (40:  23  f.),  and  illustrates 
the  divine  purpose  which  has  controlled  it  from  the  beginning 
until  now,  and  which  gives  a  world  of  significance  to  the  rise  and 
the  victorious  career  of  Cyrus.  That  career,  rightly  interpreted, 
is  the  proof  that  Jehovah  is  mindful  of  his  people.  So  from  his- 
tory the  prophet  clinches  the  argument  for  the  ever  present  power 
and  love  of  God  which  he  had  already  drawn  from  nature. 

Twice,  in  this  chapter,  the  argument  for  the  uniqueness  of 
Israel's  God  is  illustrated,  in  a  way  strange  to  us  but  significant 
for  the  ancient  world,  by  a  comparison  between  his  power,  espe- 
cially his  predictive  power,  and  that  of  the  heathen  gods.  The 
great  Cyrus  is  marching  triumphantly  across  the  world ;  which  of 
those  gods  had  predicted  this  ?  which  of  them  even  now  knows  the 
meaning  or  the  issue  of  it?  They  have  no  key  to  history,  their 
oracles  are  unable  to  interpret  it.  It  is  a  Hebrew  prophet  who 
sees  it  to  be  illuminated  with  a  divine  Presence  and  instinct  with  a 
divine  purpose  (vs.  4) ;  it  is  he  who,  inspired  by  his  God,  announces 
and  interprets  aright  the  rise  of  Cyrus.  Thus  in  this  way  again 
is  brought  home  to  the  people  the  folly  of  idolatry,  the  immeasu- 
rable greatness  of  their  God,  and  the  inestimable  privilege  that  is 
theirs  in  having  him  and  calhng  him  their  own. 

The  helplessness  of  contemporary  heathen  oracles  to  interpret 
or  appreciate  the  new  situation  created  by  Cyrus  is  expounded  in  a 
very  striking  passage  by  Principal  G.  A.  Smith  {Isaiah,  vol.  ii, 
pp.  1 13-120). 

269 


41 : 2 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Let  them  come  near  ;  then  let  them  speak  : 
Let  us  come  near  together  to  judgement. 

2.  Who  hath  raised  up  one  from  the  east, 

^  Whom  he  calleth  in  righteousness  to  his  foot  ? 
He  giveth  nations  before  him, 

And  2  maketh  him  rule  over  kings  ; 

He  giveth  them  as  the  dust  to  his  sword, 
As  the  driven  stubble  to  his  bow. 

3.  He  pursueth  them,  and  passeth  on  safely  ; 

Even  by  a  way  that  he  had  not  gone  with  his  feet. 


*  m.  whom  righteousness  calleth  to  its  foot ;  or,  whom  righteousness  meeteth  whithersoever 
he  goeth.    2  Gr.  terrifieth. 


The  Rise  of  Cyrus  a  Proof  of  Jehovah's  Power  (vss.  1-5) 

1.  The  islands  (i.e.  distant  heathen  lands,  cf.  40:  15)  are  sum- 
moned to  judgement,  i.e.  to  have  the  question  judicially  argued; 
how  are  the  rise  and  victories  of  Cyrus  to  be  explained?  what,  or 
rather  who  (vs.  2)  is  the  cause  of  them?  Renew  their  strength, 
here  inappropriate,  has  apparently  been  repeated  from  the 
preceding  vs.  (40 :  31).     The  opening  words  may  have  run  : 

Listen  to  me  in  silence,  ye  coastlands, 
And  ye  peoples,  wait  for  my  arguing. 

2.  One  from  the  east,  Cyrus  (cf.  vs.  25),  named  in  44:28: 
45  :  I.  Whom  he  calleth,  etc. :  rather,  one  whom  victory  meets  at 
every  step.  The  word  rendered  righteousness  has  a  wide  meaning 
in  this  prophecy ;  it  is  often  that  by  which  the  right  (man,  people, 
or  cause)  is  vindicated  —  hence  it  approximates  to  vindication, 
victory,  salvation.  Maketh  him  rule  over :  obscure ;  either 
brings  down,  subdues,  or  terrifies.  He  giveth  them,  etc. :  perhaps, 
his  sivord  makes  them  like  dust,  his  bow  like  driven  stubble.  These 
are  allusions  to  the  victories  of  Cyrus;  he  had  conquered  Media 
in  549  B.C.,  and  Croesus  of  Lydia  in  546. 

3.  Even  by  a  way,  etc. :  the  path  he  treads  not,  does  not  seem  to 
touch,  with  his  feet  —  an  allusion  to  the  swiftness  of  his  marches. 

270 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  41:8 


4.  Who  hath  wrought  and  done  it, 

Calhng  the  generations  from  the  beginning  ? 
I  the  Lord,  the  first, 
And  with  the  last,  I  am  he. 

5.  The  isles  saw,  and  feared  ; 

The  ends  of  the  earth  trembled ; 
They  drew  near,  and  came.^ 

6.  They  helped  every  one  his  neighbour  ; 

And  every  one  said    to  his    brother,  "Be  of  good 
courage." 

7.  So  the  carpenter  encouraged  the  goldsmith. 

And  he  that  smootheth  with  the  hammer  him  that 
smiteth  the  anvil, 
Saying  of  the  soldering,  "It  is  good"  ; 
And  he  fastened  it  with  nails,  that  it  should  not   be 
moved. 

8.  But  thou,  Israel,  my  servant, 

Jacob  whom  I  have  chosen. 
The  seed  of  Abraham  my  friend  ;  Jas.  2 :  23 

1  Gr.  adds  together. 

4.  The  rise  of  Cyrus  is  a  historical  event  which,  Kke  all  history, 
finds  its  explanation  in  God.  Jehovah  is  Lord  of  history,  his 
purpose  inspires  it,  and  it  is  his  call  that  stirs  up  great  men,  like 
Cyrus,  to  fulfil  that  purpose. 

5.  Probably  a  late  verse.  The  people  of  the  isles  are  already 
present  (vs.  i)  and  do  not  require  to  draw  near. 

6  f.  follow  40:  19,  which  see. 

Israel  is  Jehovah^s  Servant,  loved  and  upheld  by  Him  (vss.  8-10) 

8  f .  But  thou,  in  contrast  to  the  people  subdued  by  Cyrus  (vs.  2). 
My  servant  —  the  first  appearance  in  the  prophecy  of  this  impor- 
tant phrase.     Here  clearly  Israel  is  meant  —  the  nation,  not  an 

271 


41:9 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


9.  Thou  whom  I  have  taken  hold  of  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth, 
And  called  thee  from  the  ^  corners  thereof, 
And  said  unto  thee,  "Thou  art  my  servant,  .^^ 

1  have  chosen  thee  and  not  cast  thee  away"  ; 

10.  Fear  thou  not,  for  I  am  with  thee  ; 

2  Be  not  dismayed,  for  I  am  thy  God  : 

I  will  strengthen  thee  ;  yea,  I  will  help  thee  ; 

Yea,  I  will  uphold  thee  with  the  right  hand  of  my 
righteousness. 

11.  Behold,  all  they  that  are  incensed  against  thee 

Shall  be  ashamed  and  confounded  : 
They  that  strive  with  thee 

Shall  be  as  nothing,  and  shall  perish. 

12.  Thou  shalt  seek  them,  and  shalt  not  find  them, 

Even  them  that  contend  with  thee  : 
They  that  war  against  thee 

Shall  be  as  nothing,  and  as  a  thing  of  nought. 

1  Gr.  watch-towers.        ^m.  look  not  around  thee;   Gr.  wander  not. 

individual.  As  the  chosen  servant,  Israel  stands  in  special  rela- 
tion to  Jehovah  —  a  relation  rooted  in  the  past  and  going  back 
to  the  days  of  Abraham  my  friend,  whose  home  was  in  the  ends  of 
the  eaith,  i.e.  Mesopotamia  —  and  therefore  has  nothing  to  fear 
from  Cyrus  (vs.  10),  who  has  been  called  (vs.  4)  of  God  to  effect 
Israel's  deliverance. 

10.  Be  not  dismayed :  look  not  around  thee  anxiously  (cf.  mar- 
gin). I  will  strengthen,  etc.:  very  emphatic;  I  will  assuredly. 
The  right  hand  of  my  righteousness :  my  right  hand  which  will 
vindicate  thee  (cf.  vs.  2) ;    my  victorious  right  hand. 

Israel  Triumphant  over  her  Foes  (vss.  11-16) 

These  verses  explain  how  Jehovah  will  vindicate  Israel  (vs.  10) 
—  by  making  her  triumphant  over  the  forces  that  oppose  her. 

272 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISMAH  41 :  17 


13.  For  I  the  Lord  thy  God 

Will  hold  thy  right  hand, 
Saying  unto  thee,  "Fear  not ; 
'      I  will  help  thee." 

14.  ^  Fear  not,  thou  worm  Jacob, 

And  ye  men  of  Israel ; 
I  will  help  thee,  saith  the  Lord, 

And  thy  redeemer  is  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 

15.  Behold,  I  will  make  thee  a  new  sharp  threshing  instru- 

ment 
Having  teeth : 
Thou  shalt  thresh  the  mountains,  and  beat  them  small, 
And  shalt  make  the  hills  as  chaff. 

16.  Thou  shalt  fan  them,  and  the  wind  shall  carry  them 

away, 
And  the  whirlwind  shall  scatter  them  : 
And  thou  shalt  rejoice  in  the  Lord, 
Thou  shalt  glory  in  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 

17.  The  poor  and  needy  seek  water  and  there  is  none, 

And  their  tongue  faileth  for  thirst ; 

1  Gr.  fear  not,  0  Jacob,  0  Israel  few  in  number. 

13.  Saying :  /  who  say.  Fear  not :  three  times  in  this  short 
section  (10,  i3f.)  —  showing  how  real  is  Israel's  fear. 

14-16.  Ye  men  of  Israel  becomes,  by  a  simple  and  probable 
change,  thou  {puny)  worm  Israel.  Worm  suggests  helplessness, 
but  Jehovah  helps  her,  turns  her  weakness  into  strength,  and  en- 
ables her  to  thresh  not  only  grain,  but  mountains  —  symbols  of 
giant  opposition  —  with  deadly  thoroughness.    In  vs.  1 5  omit  sharp. 

Jehovah's  Wondrous  Restoration  of  his  People  (vss.   17-20) 

17  f.  In  this  picture  of  the  restoration,  as  in  40  :  3  f.,  the  material 
melts  into  the  spiritual.     The  people,  languishing  in  exile,  are 

T  273 


41 :  i8  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  the  Lord  will  answer  them, 
I  the  God  of  Israel  will  not  forsake  them. 

1 8.  I  will  open  rivers  on  the  bare  heights, 

And  fountains  in  the  midst  of  the  valleys  : 
I  will  make  the  wilderness  a  pool  of  water, 
And  the  dry  land  ^  springs  of  water. 

19.  I  will  plant  in  the  wilderness  the  cedar, 

The  acacia  tree,  and  the  myrtle,  and  the  ^  oil  tree  ; 
I  will  set  in  the  desert  the  ^  fir  tree. 
The  ^  pine,  and  the  ^  box  tree  together : 

20.  That  they  may  see,  and  know, 

And  consider  and  understand  together, 
That  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  done  this. 
And  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  hath  created  it. 

21.  Produce  your  cause, 

Saith  the  Lord  ; 

1  Gr.  water-courses.      2  m.  oleaster.      ^  SVm.  cypress.      *  m.  plane.       ^  m.  cypress. 

represented  as  thirsty,  and  they  will  be  refreshed  with  abundance 
of  water  (cf.  35  :  6  f.). 

19  f.  The  dreary  wilderness  through  which  they  have  to  pass 
will  be  transformed  into  an  enchanting  oasis,  planted  with  glori- 
ous trees,  such  as  grew  on  Lebanon  (60:  13);  and  the  object  of 
the  transformation  is  to  convince  the  people  to  a  demonstration 
that  the  hand  of  their  God  is  in  this  thing.  These  words  (vss.  17- 
20),  whose  Hteral  meaning  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  ignored,  surely 
also  suggest  the  miraculous  transformation  of  the  existing  histori- 
cal situation. 

No  Heathen  God  can  predict  the  Future  (vss.  21-24) 

Here  begins  another  dispute,  like  vss.  1-4,  not  this  time,  how- 
ever, with  the  heathen  worshippers,  but  with  their  gods  them- 
selves ;   a  challenge  which  shows  the  helplessness  of  those  gods  to 

274 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  41:24 


Bring  forth  your  strong  reasons, 
Saith  the  King  of  Israel. 

22.  Let  them  ^  bring  them  forth  and  declare  unto  us 

What  shall  happen : 
Declare  ye  the  former  things,  what  they  be. 
That  we  may  consider  them. 

And  know  the  latter  end  of  them  ; 
Or  shew  us  things  for  to  come. 

23.  Declare  the  things  that  are  to  come  hereafter, 

That  we  may  know  that  ye  are  gods  : 

Yea,  do  good,  or  do  evil. 

That  we  may  ^  be  dismayed,  and  ^  behold  it  together. 

24.  ^  Behold,  ye  are  of  nothing, 

And  your  work  is  nought : 

An  abomination  is  he  that  chooseth  you. 

1  Gr.  Syr.  Tar.  Vg.  draw  near.  2  m.  look  one  upon  another.  ^  A  Heb.  variant,  fear. 
<  Gr.  we  shall  beliold  together  whence  ye  are  and  whence  your  work. 

predict  the  future,  in  particular  the  advent  of  Cyrus  (25-29), 
and  which  therefore  estabHshes  the  exclusive  divinity  of  Israel's 
God. 

21.  Produce  your  cause,  addressed  to  the  heathen  gods  (vs.  23), 
whose  worshippers  are  also  present  (vs.  29). 

22  f.  The  last  two  clauses  of  vs.  22  should  be  transposed: 

Or  the  things  to  come  let  us  hear, 
That  we  may  mark  the  issue  of  them. 

Do  good  or  evil,  i.e.  anything,  something.     Be   dismayed,  etc.: 

i.e.  look  on  it  with  astonishment. 

"  The  false  gods  may  mention  either  predictions  of  past  events, 
which  were  duly  fulfilled,  or  predictions  of  future  events,  the  issue 
of  which  Jehovah  and  His  followers  will  carefully  mark.  Or 
lastly,  let  them  give  any  proof  that  they  like  of  their  ability  to 
act."  —  Cheyne. 

24.  A  dead  silence  follows  the  challenge.  The  gods  have 
nothing  to  say;  therefore  they  are  of  nothing,  nonentities,  not 
gods  at  all  (vs.  23). 

275 


41:25  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


25.  I  have  raised  up  one  from  the  north,  and  he  is  come ; 

From  the  rising  of  the  sun  one  that  calleth  upon  my 
name  : 
And  he  shall  come  upon  rulers  as  upon  mortar, 
And  as  the  potter  treadeth  clay. 

26.  Who  hath  declared  it  from  the  beginning,  that  we  may 

know? 
And  beforetime,  that  we  may  say,  ''He  is  righteous"? 
Yea,  there  is  none  that  declareth,  yea,  there  is  none 

that  sheweth, 
Yea,  there  is  none  that  heareth  your  words. 

27.  I  first  will  say  unto  Zion,  "Behold,  behold  them"  : 

And  I  will  give  to  Jerusalem  one  that  bringeth  good 
tidings. 


No  Heathen  God,  hut  Jehovah  alone,  predicted  the  Advent  of  Cyrus 
(vss.   25-29) 

The  general  ignorance  of  the  future  displayed  by  the  heathen 
gods  (21-24)  is  illustrated  by  their  particular  ignorance  of 
Cyrus. 

25.  One,  Cyrus;  from  the  north  and  east,  practically  =  the 
northeast.  That  calleth  upon  my  name,  i.e.  in  worship;  this, 
of  course,  is  an  ideal  representation.  To  the  idealkm  of  our 
prophet  it  is  natural  that  Cyrus,  who  at  the  beginning  of  his  career 
was  ignorant  of  Jehovah  (45  :  4),  should  finally  acknowledge  him 
as  the  author  of  his  success.  Perhaps,  however,  we  should  read, 
by  a  very  simple  change,  /  will  call  him  by  his  name;  this  would 
bring  the  passage  into  complete  accord  with  45  :  4.  He  shall 
come  upon  :  read,  that  he  may  trample  upon  (cf.  40 :  23). 

26.  No  heathen  god  had  foretold  the  advent  of  Cyrus.  Right- 
eous should  be  right,  i.e.  in  his  prediction. 

27.  Will  give  should  be  gave.  The  bringer  of  good  tidings  is  the 
prophet  himself  (cf.  40:9),  who  was  a  veritable  gift  of  God  to 
Jerusalem;  he  was  the  first  to  explain  the  meaning  of  Cyrus. 
The  first  half  of  this  verse  is  very  obscure;  perhaps  originally, 
/  announced  it  in  advance  unto  Zion. 

276 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


42 


28.  And  when  I  look,  there  is  no  man  ; 

Even  among  them  there  is  no  counsellor, 

That,  when  I  ask  of  them,  can  answer  a  word. 

29.  Behold,  ^  all  of  them. 

Their  works  are  vanity  and  nought. 

Their  molten  images  are  wind  and  confusion. 

The  Servant  (Israel),  His  Task  and  Destiny 
(42  :  1-44  :  23) 

The  Servants  Task  (42  :  1-9) 

42.  Behold,  2  my  servant,  whom  I  uphold  ; 

^  My  chosen,  in  whom  my  soul  deUghteth  : 

1  m.  they  are  all  vanity:  their  works  are  nought.      2  Qr.  adds  Jacob.    3  Qr.  adds  Israel. 

28  f.  For  look,  read  looked;  for  no  man,  none;  further  was, 
asked,  could  answer.  The  gods  were  dumb;  therefore,  as  before 
(vs.  24),  they  are  proved  nonentities. 

This  dispute  between  Jehovah  and  the  gods  is  thoroughly 
dramatic.  Particularly  effective  is  the  helpless  silence  that  follows 
Jehovah's  challenge  of  them.  And  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  is  that  they  are  nothing,  while  he  is  everything,  and  he 
may  therefore  well  be  trusted  by  his  downcast  people. 

42  :  1-44 :  23.  Now  that  the  power  of  God  to  deliver  Israel  has 
been  persuasively  set  forth  (Chap.  40),  and  the  conquering  Cyrus 
has  been  interpreted  as  the  human  agent  of  that  deliverance 
(Chap.  41),  it  is  fitting  that  the  real  meaning  and  purpose  of  it 
should  be  explained.  Israel,  the  nation,  is  Jehovah's  servant 
(41  :  8),  and  she  is  deHvered  in  order  to  perform  the  high  task  of 
bringing  the  true  religion,  which  she  alone  possesses  —  for  there 
is  no  God  like  hers  (41  :  29)  —  to  the  whole  world. 

42  :  1-4.  This  is  the  first  of  the  four  songs  (49 :  1-6 ;  50 :  4-9 ; 
52:  13-53:  12)  whose  theme  is  the  Servant  of  Jehovah.  Whether  in 
these  songs  the  servant  was  originally  an  individual  or  the  nation  in 
its  ideal  capacity  (see  pp.  250  ff .),  in  their  present  setting  the  national 
interpretation  is  obligatory.  Israel  is  the  servant,  as  expressly 
stated  in  41  :  8,  and  as  the  Greek  version  also  reads  here  (42  :  i). 

I.  Behold:  for  my  servant  (Jehovah  is  speaking)  is  a  fact 
277 


42:2 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  have  put  my  spirit  upon  him  ; 
He  shall  bring  forth  judgement  to  the  ^  Gentiles. 

2.  He  shall  not  cry,  nor  lift  up, 

Nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street. 

3.  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break, 

And  the  ^  smoking  flax  shall  he  not  quench : 

He  shall  bring  forth  judgement  in  truth. 

4.  He  shall  not  ^  fail  nor  be  ^  discouraged. 
Till  he  have  set  judgement  in  the  earth ; 

And  the  isles  shall  wait  for  his  law. 

5.  Thus  saith  God  the  Lord, 

He  that  created  the  heavens,  and  stretched  them  forth; 

1  m.  nations.  2  m,  SV  dimly  burning  imck.  3  m.  jjeb.  burn  dimly.  *  m.  Heb. 
bruised. 

worthy  of  the  greatest  attention  (cf.  41:29).  He  is  chosen 
(41 :  8)  by  his  God  and  equipped  with  the  spirit,  like  a  prophet, 
for  his  task  of  carrying  judgment  {^xdiCt\c2X\y  =  religion  on  its 
civic  side)  to  the  world.  In  other  words,  Israel  is  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary people. 

2.  His  methods  are  to  be  unsensational.  Noise  and  self-ad- 
vertisement are  unseemly  and  unnecessary  in  one  who  is  conscious 
of  being  upheld  and  inspired  (vs.  i)  by  an  omnipotent  God. 

3.  Those  whose  power  is  bent  and  broken  he  lifts  up  ;  smoulder- 
ing hope  he  fans  into  a  flame,  by  his  faithful  proclamation  of  the 
true  religion  (judgment,  cf.  vs.  i).  In  truth,  i.e.  faithfully.  The 
reed  and  the  flax  are  the  heathen  (vss.  i,  4)  who  are  revived  by 
Israel's  message. 

4.  The  translation  fail  and  be  discouraged  misses  a  fine  point 
in  the  original,  which  echoes  the  words  of  the  previous  verse  (see 
margin,  hum  dimly,  he  hruised).  The  servant  is  a  reed  not  bruised, 
but  erect ;  a  wick  not  dim,  but  brightly  burning ;  and  he  continues 
his  rehgious  work  till  it  is  effectively  established  throughout  the 
whole  world. 

These  words,  suggesting  the  gentleness,  the  serenity,  the  ten- 
derness, and  the  triumph  of  the  servant's  work  are  very  happily 
applied  by  Matthew  (12  :  17-21)  to  our  Lord. 

5.  The  omnipotence  of  Jehovah  is  the  guarantee  that  he  will 
carry  his  servant's  work  to  complete  success. 

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He  that  spread  abroad  the  earth  and  that  which  com- 
eth  out  of  it ; 
He  that  giveth  breath  unto  the  people  upon  it, 
And  spirit  to  them  that  walk  therein  : 

6.  I  the  Lord  have  called  thee  in  righteousness, 

And  will  hold  thy  hand, 
And  will  ^  keep  thee,  and  give  thee  for  a  covenant  of 
the  people. 
For  a  Ught  of  the  Gentiles  ; 

7.  To  open  the  blind  eyes. 

To  bring  out  the  prisoners  from  the  dungeon. 
And  them  that  sit  in  darkness  out  of  the  prison 
house. 

8.  I  am  the  Lord  ; 

That  is  my  name : 
And  my  glory  will  I  not  give  to  another, 
Neither  my  praise  unto  graven  images. 

9.  Behold,  the  former  things  are  come  to  pass, 

And  new  things  do  I  declare  : 

1  m.  form ;  Gr.  slrenglken. 

6.  In  righteousness,  i.e.  in  accordance  with  my  purpose. 
The  people,  as  in  vs.  5,  the  people  upon  the  earth,  i.e.  humanity 
=  the  Gentiles.  In  Israel,  God's  covenant  with  humanity,  his 
true  relation  with  man,  is  embodied,  incarnate ;  in  her  the  divine 
light  that  is  to  hghten  the  Gentiles  is  shining. 

7.  To  open:  read,  opening.  The  blind  and  the  prisoners  are 
probably  the  heathen  (cf.  vss.  i,  4,  6),  though  a  reference  to  Israel 
herself  is  not  necessarily  excluded  (cf.  vss.  18,  20). 

8.  Jehovah's  name,  his  honor,  his  glory  are  bound  up  with  the 
success  of  Israel's  mission.  If  Israel  fails,  Jehovah  is  no  better 
than  other  gods. 

9.  The  former  things,  the  victorious  career  of  Cyrus  (41 :  25-29). 
New  things,  the  impending  emancipation  of  Israel,  with  its  vast 

279 


42 :  10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Before  they  spring  forth 
I  tell  you  of  them. 

The  New  Song  (42  :  10-13) 

10.  Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song, 

And  his  praise  from  the  end  of  the  earth ; 
Ye  that  go  down  to  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  therein, 
The  isles,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof. 

11.  Let  the  wilderness  and  the  cities  thereof  ^  Hft  up  their 

voice, 
The  villages  that  Kedar  doth  inhabit ; 
Let  the  inhabitants  of  Sela  sing. 

Let  them  shout  from  the  top  of  the  mountains. 

12.  Let  them  give  glory  unto  the  Lord, 

And  declare  his  praise  in  the  islands. 

13.  The  Lord  shall  go  forth  as  a  mighty  man  ; 

He  shall  stir  up  -  jealousy  like  a  man  of  war : 
He  shall  cry,  yea,  he  shall  ^  shout  aloud  ; 
He  shall  do  mightily  against  his  enemies. 

1  Gr.  Tar.  rejoice.  ^  m.  zeal ;  SV  his  zeal.  ^  Gr.  shall  shout  against  his  enemies  -with 
strength. 

spiritual  consequences  for  the  world.     This  prophecy  will  be  ful- 
filled as  surely  as  the  other. 

10-13.  The  whole  world  is  concerned  in  the  deliverance  of 
Israel,  and  is  therefore  summoned  to  sing  a  new  song  for  this  new 
and  wonderful  experience.  For  ye  that  go  down  to  the  sea,  read 
let  the  sea  roar.  Kedar,  an  Arabian  tribe.  For  Sela,  the  capital 
of  Edom,  perhaps  we  should  read  with  AV  the  rock  {i.e.  cliffs,  in 
contrast  to  the  mountains).  The  reason  for  this  universal  joy  is 
that  Jehovah,  in  his  warhke  zeal,  is  taking  the  field,  in  the  person 
of  Cyrus,  against  his  enemies,  i.e.  the  Babylonians. 

280 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Jehovah  at  last  bestirs  Himself  (42  :  14-17) 

14.  ^  I  have  long  time  holden  my  peace  ; 

I  have  been  still,  and  refrained  myself : 
Now  will  I  cry  out  Hke  a  travaihng  woman  ; 
I  will  gasp  and  pant  together. 

15.  I  will  make  waste  mountains  and  hills, 

And  dry  up  all  their  herbs  ; 
And  I  will  make  the  rivers  islands, 
And  will  dry  up  the  pools. 

16.  And  I  will  bring  the  blind  by  a  way  that  they  know  not ; 

In  paths  that  they  know  not  will  I  lead  them  : 
I  will  make  darkness  light  before  them, 
And  crooked  places  straight. 

These  things  will  I  do, 

^  And  I  will  not  forsake  them. 

17.  They  shall   be   turned   back,    they   shall  be   greatly 

ashamed,  that  trust  in  graven  images, 
That  say  unto  molten  images,  "Ye  are  our  gods." 

A  Call  for  Responsiveness  on  Israel's  Fart   (42  :  18-25) 

18.  Hear,  ye  deaf  ; 

And  look,  ye  bhnd,  that  ye  may  see. 

1  Gr.  /  have  been  silent;  sJiall  I  also  be  for  ever  silent?     ^m.  and  will  not  forbear. 

14-17.  Jehovah,  who  has  long  been  silent,  inactive  (perhaps 
since  701  B.C.,  when  he  delivered  Jerusalem  from  Sennacherib), 
now  pants  to  do  something  for  Israel.  He  will  work  havoc  for 
her  enemies  (vs.  15),  and  lead  her,  blind  as  she  is,  across  the  dark 
desert  to  the  home  land.  These  things  will  I  surely  do,  and  not 
leave  undone  (vs.  16) ;  and  then  will  be  seen  the  folly  of  trusting 
any  other  god  but  him.     For  islands  (vs.  15)  read  perhaps  dry  land. 

18.  Israel,  as  a  whole,  is  still  deaf  and  blind.  She  fails  to  read, 
281 


42 :  19  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


19.  Who  is  blind,  but  my  ^  servant  ? 

Or  deaf,  as  ^  my  messenger  that  I  send  ? 
Who  is  blind  as  he  that  is  ^  at  peace  with  we, 
And  bHnd  as  the  Lord's  servant  ? 

20.  ^  Thou  seest  many  things,  but  thou  observest  not 

^His  ears  are  open,  but  he  heareth  not. 

21.  It  pleased  the  Lord,  for  his  righteousness'  sake. 

To  ^  magnify  the  law,  and  make  it  honourable. 

22.  But  this  is  a  people  robbed  and  spoiled ; 
They  are  all  of  them  snared  in  holes. 

And  they  are  hid  in  prison  houses: 
They  are  for  a  prey,  and  none  dehvereth  ; 
For  a  spoil,  and  none  saith,  ''Restore." 

23.  Who  is  there  among  you  that  will  give  ear  to  this  ? 

That  will  hearken  and  hear  for  the  time  to  come  ? 


1  Gr.  servants.  2  Gr.  their  rulers.  ^  m.  made  perfect,  or  recompensed ;  AV  perfect. 
*  Gr.  ye  saw  .  .  .  observed  not  .  .  .  heard  not.  ^  Gr.  the.  ^  m.  make  the  teaching 
great  and  glorious. 

as  this  great  prophet  so  clearly  does,  the  signs  of  the  times;    she 
does  not  understand  that  Jehovah  is  panting  to  deliver  her  (vss. 

19.  This  verse,  which  interrupts  the  direct  appeal  in  vss.  18,  20, 
and  is  explanatory  of  vs.  18,  may  originally  have  been  briefer : 
Who  is  blind,  hut  my  servant,  and  deaf,  as  mine  emissary?  The 
word  he  that  is  at  peace  with  me  is  obscure,  and  perhaps  should  be 
(by  the  change  of  a  single  letter)  he  that  is  sent. 

20.  For  his  and  he,  perhaps  thine  and  thou.  Israel  has  no  real 
power  of  observation,  no  ear  for  the  voice  of  God  in  contemporary 
history. 

21  f.  Read,  with  margin,  make  the  teaching,  perhaps  the  prophetic 
teaching,  great  and  glorious.  But  to  this,  as  to  the  teaching  of 
history,  Israel  is  irresponsive,  made  dull  and  desperate  by  her 
misery,  which  is  figuratively  described  in  vs.  22. 

23-25.  An  appeal  to  Israel  to  learn,  with  a  view  to  the  future,  to 
282 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


43:1 


24.  Who  gave  Jacob  ^  for  a  spoil, 

And  Israel  to  the  robbers  ? 
Did  not  the  Lord  ?  he  against  whom  we  have  sinned, 
And  in  whose  ways  they  would  not  walk. 
Neither  were  they  obedient  unto  his  law. 

25.  Therefore  he  poured  upon  him  the  fury  of  his  anger, 

And  the  strength  of  battle  ; 
And  it  set  him  on  fire  round  about,  yet  he  knew  not ; 
And  it  burned  him,  yet  he  laid  it  not  to  heart. 

Jehovah  will  show  his  Love  for  Israel  hy  gathering  her  Exiles 
Home  (43  : 1-7) 

43.  But  now  thus  saith  the  Lord 

That  created  thee,  0  Jacob,  and  he  that  formed  thee, 
O  Israel : 
Fear  not,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee  ; 

I  have  called  thee  by  thy  name,  thou  art  mine. 

1  Heb.  variant,  to  the  plunderer. 

recognize  Jehovah's  hand  and  purpose  in  these  her  sorrows  of 
spoliation  and  captivity.  It  was  he,  though  Israel  knew  it  not 
(vs.  25),  who  gave  Jacob  to  the  spoilers  and  Israel  to  the  robbers,  and 
who  poured  out  upon  him  his  anger,  and  the  violence  of  war,  here 
described  as  a  flaming  fire.  For  several  reasons,  vs.  24  —  from 
did  not  the  LORD  to  the  end  —  appears  to  be  a  later  insertion, 
interrupting  24a  and  25  (which  really  begins  with  and,  not  there- 
fore), and  introducing  a  somewhat  irrelevant  idea;  here  it  is 
rather  sharpened  eyes  than  a  sharpened  conscience  that  the 
prophet  desiderates.  Who  gave  Jacob  to  the  spoiler,  and  Israel 
to  the  robbers,  and  poured  upon  him  the  jury  of  his  anger? 

43  :  1-7.  Israel's  irresponsiveness  has  not  dimmed  Jehovah's 
love  for  her;  "thou  art  mine."  So  again  comes  the  assurance 
that  he  will  ransom  her,  and  bring  her  scattered  children  home. 

I  f.  Now,  in  contrast  to  the  misery  which  has  just  been  de- 
scribed (42:18-25),  Israel's  creator  will  show  himself  as  her  re- 
deemer:   therefore  fear  not.     Called  thee  by  thy  name,  as  my 

283 


43:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  When  thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with 

thee; 
And  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow  thee  : 
When  thou  walkest  through  the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be 
burned ; 
Neither  shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee. 

3.  For  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 

The  Holy  One  of  Israel,  thy  saviour  : 
I  have  given  Egypt  as  thy  ransom, 
Ethiopia  and  ^  Seba  for  thee. 

4.  Since  thou  hast  been  precious  in  my  sight, 

And  honourable,  and  I  have  loved  thee  ; 
Therefore  will  I  give  men  for  thee, 
And  peoples  for  thy  Ufe. 

5.  Fear  not ;    for  I  am  with  thee  : 

I  will  bring  thy  seed  from  the  east, 
And  gather  thee  from  the  west ; 

6.  I  will  say  to  the  north.  Give  up  ; 

And  to  the  south.  Keep  not  back  ; 

Bring  my  sons  from  far, 

And  my  daughters  from  the  end  of  the  earth  ; 

1  Gr.  Soene  (  =  Syene  or  Assouan). 

favorite  and  friend;  and  in  the  gravest  perils  (water  and  fire) 
thou  shalt  be  sure  of  my  presence  and  protection  (cf.  Ps.  91). 

3  f.  Thy  ransom :  as  the  price  paid  for  the  emancipation  of 
Israel,  Cyrus  is  here  represented  as  being  rewarded  with  the  con- 
quest of  rich  and  distant  lands  (Ps.  72:  10).  For  men  (vs.  4) 
read,  by  a  simple  change,  laiids.     Seba,  in  the  north  of  Ethiopia. 

5-7.  Israel  is  scattered  throughout  the  world  —  east,  west, 
north,  and  south;  and  Jehovah's  glory  will  be  manifested  his- 
torically by  bringing  them  back  home.     He  cares  not  only  for 

284 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


7.  Every  one  that  is  called  by  my  name, 

And  whom  I  have  created  for  my  glory ;    I  have 
formed  him ;   yea,  I  have  made  him. 

Israel  is  Jehovah's  Witness  to  the  World  (43  :  8-13) 

8.  Bring  forth  the  blind  people  that  have  eyes, 

And  the  deaf  that  have  ears. 

9.  ^  Let  all  the  nations  be  gathered  together, 

And  let  the  peoples  be  assembled  : 

Who  among  them  can  declare  this. 

And  shew  us  former  things  ? 
Let  them  bring  forth  their  witnesses,  that  they  may 
be  justified : 

Or  let  them  hear,  and  say,  ''It  is  truth." 

1  Heb.  Gr.  all  ike  nations  have  been  gathered  together. 

the  nation  as  a  whole,  but  for  the  individuals;  they  are  his  dear 
sons  and  daughters  (cf.  1:2).  For  I  have  formed,  etc.,  read  sim- 
ply, formed  and  made. 

43  :  8-13.  Here,  as  before  (41  :  1-4,  21-28)  is  a  judgment  scene. 
The  nations  are  gathered  in  court  (vs.  9),  and  Israel  testifies  to 
the  uniqueness  of  her  God.  He  and  he  alone  has  both  foretold 
and  effected  this  great  salvation  for  her;  therefore  he  is  God 
alone. 

8.  The  blind  and  deaf  are  Israel  (42  :  18  f.)  ;  yet,  though  blind 
and  deaf  to  the  meaning  of  her  history,  she  nevertheless  has 
eyes  and  ears,  and  cannot  refuse  her  testimony  to  the  facts 
themselves  —  the  facts  especially  (a)  of  the  prediction  of^  this 
deliverance  (cf.  41  :  22),  and  (b)  of  the  deliverance  itself,  which  is 
imminent 

9.  Read :  the  nations  are  gathered,  the  peoples  assembled,  in  court 
for  the  trial  between  their  gods  and  Israel's.  But  none  of  the 
heathen  gods  has  shown  the  powder  to  declare  this  deliverance 
in  advance  (read  thus,  instead  of  former  things) ;  and  they  have 
no  witnesses  to  corroborate  their  statement,  and  say.  It  is  true 
(cf.  41 :  26). 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


10.  Ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord, 

And  my  servant  whom  I  have  chosen  : 
That  ye  may  know  and  beheve  me, 
And  understand  that  I  am  he  : 

Before  me  there  was  no  god  formed. 
Neither  shall  there  be  after  me. 

11.  I,  even  I,  am  the  Lord  ; 

And  beside  me  there  is  no  saviour. 

12.  I  have  declared,  and  I  have  saved. 

And  I  have  shewed. 
And  there  was  no  strange  god  among  you : 

Therefore  ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord. 

And  I  am  God. 

13.  Yea,  1  since  the  day  was  I  am  he  ; 

And  there  is  none  that  can  deliver  out  of  my  hand : 
I  will  work,  and  who  shalF  let  it  ? 

The  Deliverance  from  Babylon  more   Wonderful  than  the 
Deliverance  from  Egypt  (43  :  14-21) 

14.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 

Your  redeemer,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel : 

1  m.  from  this  day  forth  I,  etc. ;  Gr.  Tar.  Vg.  from  everlasting.  2  m.  reverse ;  SV  cart 
hinder. 

10.  The  nations,  thus  challenged,  are  silent.  Jehovah,  however, 
has  a  witness  in  Israel ;  YE  are  my  witnesses  and  servants.  Prob- 
ably the  following  verbs  should  be  read  in  the  third  person  : 
that  they  {i.e.  the  heathen)  shoidd  know  and  believe  me,  etc.  The 
object  of  Israel's  testimony  is  to  convince  the  world  that  her  God 
is  the  only  God,  and  to  lead  the  nations  to  faith  in  him. 

13  (with  last  clause  of  vs.  12).     Read: 

/  am  God  {from  of  old). 
Yea  from  now  I  am  ever  the  same. 
286 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


For  your  sake  I  have  sent  to  Babylon, 

And  I  will  bring  down  ^  all  of  them  as  fugitives, 

Even  the  Chaldeans, 
2  In  the  ships  of  their  rejoicing. 

15.  I  am  the  Lord,  your  Holy  One, 

The  Creator  of  Israel,  your  King. 

16.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 

Which  maketh  a  way  in  the  sea. 
And  a  path  in  the  mighty  waters  : 

17.  Which  bringeth  forth  the  chariot  and  horse, 

The  army  and  the  power  ; 
They  He  down  together,  they  shall  not  rise ; 
They  are  extinct,  they  are  quenched  as  ^  flax. 

18.  Remember  ye  not  the  former  things, 

Neither  consider  the  things  of  old. 

19.  Behold,  I  will  do  a  new  thing  ; 

Now  shall  it  spring  forth ;    shall  ye  not  know  it  ? 

1  m.  AV  all  their  nobles.  2  AV  whose  cry  is  in  the  ships  ;  Gr.  {and  the  Chaldeans) 
shall  be  bound  in  ships.    *  m.  SV  a  wick. 

Let:  read  with  margin,  reverse.  The  purpose  of  the  eternal  God 
is  triumphant  and  irreversible  (cf.  14:  27). 

43  :  14-21.  The  ancient  deliverance  of  Israel  from  the  Egyptian 
horsemen  at  the  Red  Sea  will  be  transcended  by  this  new  and  more 
wonderful  deliverance  from  Babylon. 

14.  The  detail  of  this  verse  is  unfortunately  so  obscure  that  we 
are  obliged  to  be  content  with  the  general  sense,  which  appears 
to  be  an  announcement  of  the  impending  fall  of  Babylon. 

16  f.  The  sea  is  the  Red  Sea,  the  chariot  and  horse  are  those  of 
the  Egyptians. 

18  f.  Those  former  things  —  the  defeat  of  Pharaoh  and  the 
passage  through  the  sea  —  are  hardly  worth  remembering  in 
comparison  with  the  new  thing  (the  overthrow  of  Babylon,  and 
the  way  through  the  wilderness  to  the  home  land)  which  is  about 

287 


43:20  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  will  even  make  a  way  in  the  wilderness, 
And  rivers  in  the  desert. 

20.  The  beasts  of  the  field  shall  honour  me, 

The  jackals  and  the  ostriches  : 

Because  I  give  waters  in  the  wilderness. 

And  rivers  in  the  desert, 
To  give  drink  to  my  people,  my  chosen  : 

21.  The  people  which  I  formed  for  myself, 
1  That  they  might  set  forth  my  praise. 

IsraeVs  Restoration  is  Due  not  to  her  Own  Merits,  hut  to 
Jehovah^s  Free  Grace  (43  :  22-44  '  S) 

22.2  Yet  thou  hast  not  called  upon  me,  O  Jacob  ; 

But  thou  hast  been  weary  of  me,  O  Israel. 
23.  Thou  hast  not  brought  me  the  small  cattle  of  thy  burnt 
offerings  ; 

Neither  hast  thou  honoured  me  with  thy  sacrifices. 

1  m.  they  shall  set  forth.  2  Qr.  not  now  ha-'e  I  called  thee,  0  Jacob,  or  wearied  thee, 
0  Israel. 

to  Spring  forth  from  the  success  of  Cyrus.     Shall  ye  not  know  it  ? 

do   ye  not  recognize  it? 

20  f .  The  very  beasts  will  honor  Jehovah  for  this  glorious  trans- 
formation of  the  wilderness.  The  last  half  of  vs.  20,  which  but 
repeats  19b,  besides  giving  it  a  prosaic  turn,  may,  with  vs.  21,  be  a 
later  insertion. 

The  wonderful  way  across  the  desert  is  a  favorite  theme  of  this 
prophecy. 

43:22-44:5.  The  imminent  emancipation  and  restoration  of 
Israel  are  not  a  reward  for  her  fidelity  to  Jehovah.  She  had 
brought  him  no  offering  —  nothing  but  a  long  record  of  sin :  it  is 
only  of  his  free  grace  that  Jehovah  forgives  and  restores  her. 
The  argument  of  the  section  recalls  42  :  18-43  •  7- 

22.  Jehovah  had  called  Israel  (vs.  i),  but  Israel  had  not  called 
upon  Jehovah,  nor  hast  thou  wearied  thyself  about  me. 

23  f .  Israel  had  brought  no  offering  or  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  during 
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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  have  not  made  thee  to  serve  with  ^  offerings, 
Nor  wearied  thee  with  frankincense. 

24.  Thou  hast  bought  me  no  sweet  cane  with  money, 

Neither  hast  thou  ^  filled   me  with  the  fat  of  thy 
sacrifices : 

But  thou  hast  made  me  to  serve  with  thy  sins. 
Thou  hast  wearied  me  with  thine  iniquities. 

25.  I,  even  I,  am  he  that  blotteth  out  thy  transgressions 

^  for  mine  own  sake  ; 
And  I  will  not  remember  thy  sins. 

26.  Put  me  in  remembrance  ;  let  us  plead  together  : 

Set    thou   forth   thy   cause ,  that   thou  may  est   be 
justified. 

27.  ^  Thy  first  father  sinned. 

And  thine  ^  interpreters  have  transgressed  against 
me. 


1  m.  a    meal-offering,     ^m..  satiated;    Gr.  {neither  have  I)   desired.     ^  gome   Gr. 
MSS.  om.    *  Gr.  your  first  fathers.     *  SV  teachers. 

the  exile  —  indeed,  away  from  the  temple,  she  could  not  —  nor 
had  Jehovah  made  any  such  demand  upon  her.  No  opinion  for  or 
against  the  efficacy  of  sacrifice  is  here  expressed  (cf.  i  :  11  ff.) ;  it  is 
simply  a  conceivable  way  of  serving  Jehovah.  Instead,  however, 
of  serving  him,  she  had,  by  reason  of  her  sins,  made  him  serve  her, 
her  guilt  imposing  upon  him  the  burden  of  punishing  her  by  exile, 
and  the  task  of  restoring  her  again. 

25.  The  fact  that  their  transgressions  are  being  blotted  out  is 
attested  by  the  impending  dehverance.  This  happens,  not  for 
their  merits,  but  for  mine  own  sake,  i.e.  of  his  own  free  grace.  I 
emphatically  repeated. 

26.  Israel  is  summoned  to  set  forth,  or  rather  count  up  (her 
claims  to  merit)  ;  but  she  is  ominously  silent  (cf.  end  of  vs.  24)  — 
there  has  been  sin  from  the  beginning  (vs.  27). 

27.  Thy  first  father,  Jacob.  Thine  interpreters,  the  false 
prophets. 

u  289 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


28.  Therefore  I  ^  will  profane  ^  the  princes  of  the  sanctuary, 
And  I  ^  will  make  Jacob  a  ^  curse, 
And  Israel  a  revihng. 

44.  Yet  now  hear,  O  Jacob  my  servant ; 
And  Israel,  whom  I  have  chosen  : 

2.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  that  made  thee. 

And  formed  thee  from  the  womb,  who  will  help  thee : 

Fear  not,  O  Jacob  my  servant ; 
And  thou,  ^  Jeshurun,  whom  I  have  chosen. 

3.  For  I  will  pour  water  upon  ^  him  that  is  thirsty, 

And  streams  upon  the  dry  ground  : 

I  will  pour  my  spirit  upon  thy  seed. 
And  my  blessing  upon  thine  offspring  : 

4.  And  they  shall  spring  up  ^  among  the  grass, 

As  willows  by  the  watercourses. 

5.  One  shall  say,  "I  am  the  Lord's"  ; 

And  another  shall  call  himself  by  the  name  of  Jacob  ; 

1  m.  AV  have  profaned;  Gr.  the  princes  have  profaned  my  holy  things.  ^  va.  holy 
princes.  ^  m.  have  (so  AV)  made.  *  m.  dei'oted  thing.  *  Gr.  Syr.  and  some  Heb. 
MSS.  Israel.    ^  m.  the  thirsty  land.     '  Gr.  as  grass  among  water. 

28.  For  the  first  clause,  which  is  not  very  satisfactory,  following 
the  Greek  version  we  may  read,  Thy  princes  profaned  my  sanc- 
tuary (cf.  Ezek.  8:  5-18).  For  And  I  will  make,  etc.,  read,  so  I 
gave  up  Jacob  to  the  ban,  and  Israel  to  reviling. 

44:  I.  Now,  in  contrast  to  the  sin  and  misery  just  described 

(cf.43:i). 

2.  Jeshurun,  a  rare  name  for  Israel  (Deut.  32  :  15). 

3.  In  exile,  Israel  is  as  a  thirsty  land  that  needs  the  refreshing 
showers.  The  divine  spirit  is  the  source  of  the  blessing,  which 
here  covers  material  as  well  as  spiritual  welfare. 

4.  They  shall  spring  up  fair  and  abundant,  as  grass  among  waters 
(soGr.). 

5.  So  wonderful  will  be  their  prosperity  (the  blessing,  vs.  3) 
that  one,  and  another,  and  another  —  members  of  other  nations 
and  worshippers  of  other  gods  —  will  wish  to  call  himself  by  the 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  another  shall  ^  subscribe  with  his  hand  unto  the 
Lord, 
And  2  surname  himself  by  the  name  of  Israel. 

IsraeVs  God  is  Sovereign  and  Eternal  (44 : 6-8) 

6.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  King  of  Israel, 

And  his  redeemer  the  Lord  of  hosts  : 
I  am  the  first,  and  I  am  the  last ;  Rev.  i:  17; 

And  beside  me  there  is  no  God.  ^*  •  '3 

7.  3  And  who,  as  I,  shall  call, 

And  shall  declare  it,  and  set  it  in  order  for  me, 

1  m.  write  on  his  hand.  Unto  the  LORD.  2  m.  give  for  a  title  the  name  of  Israel.  ^  Gr. 
Who  is  like  me?  let  him  stand,  and  call  and  declare,  and  prepare  for  me  from  the  time  that 
I  made  man  for  ever. 

name  of  Jacob  (i.e.  join  the  commonwealth  of  Israel),  and  call 
Israel's  God  his  own.  One  will  inscribe  his  hand  —  a  reminis- 
cence of  the  ancient  tattoo  —  with  the  words  To  Jehovah,  indi- 
cating his  new  lord,  and  assume  the  honorable  surname  of  Israel. 

This  verse  suggests  the  effect  which  the  redemption  of  Israel 
is  to  have  upon  the  world.     Proselytes  will  be  won. 

44  :  6-8.  The  conspicuous  greatness  of  Israel's  blessing  (vss.  3-5) 
brings  up  the  familiar  thought  of  the  lonely  greatness  of  Israel's 
God  (vss.  6-8). 

6.  Jehovah  is  king  (43  :  15)  and  (for  the  first  time  in  this  proph- 
ecy) Jehovah  of  hosts,  with  reference  perhaps  to  the  imminent 
overthrow  of  mighty  Babylon  through  Cyrus  (vs.  28).  He  is 
the  first  and  the  last,  i.e.  the  eternal  God,  the  o?ily  God  (cf.  43 : 
10  f.). 

7.  Read,  with  the  help  of  the  Greek  version  in  the  first  half, 
and  of  a  brilliant  emendation  of  Oort's  in  the  second  half  of  the 
verse : 

Who  is  like  me?  let  him  stand  forth  and  cry, 

Let  him  declare  it,  and  set  it  i?i  order  before  me. 
Who  hath  announced  from  of  old  things  future? 

And  what  is  to  come,  let  them  declare  to  us. 

It  is  the  same  sort  of  challenge  of  the  heathen  and  their  gods,  and 
the  same  emphasis  on  prediction,  as  in  41 :  21  f. 

291 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Since  I  appointed  the  ancient  people  ?  and  the  things 
that  are  coming, 
And  that  shall  come  to  pass,  let  them  ^  declare. 

8.  Fear  ye  not,  neither  be  afraid : 

Have  I  not  declared  unto  ^  thee  of  old,  and  shewed 
it? 
And  ye  are  my  witnesses.     Is  there  a  God  beside  me  ? 
Yea,  there  is  no  Rock  ;  I  know  not  any. 

The  Folly  oj  Idolatry  (44  :  9-20) 

9.  They  that  fashion  a  graven  image   are   all  of  them 

^  vanity ; 
And  their  delectable  things  shall  not  profit : 
And  their  own  witnesses  see  not,  nor  know  ; 
That  they  may  be  ashamed. 
10.  Who  hath  fashioned  a  god,  or  molten  a  graven  image 
That  is  profitable  for  nothing  ? 

*  Heb.  {declare)  unto  them  ;  Gr.  to  you ;  Tar.  to  us.       2  q^.  you.      '  Heb.  chaos. 

8.  Israel  is  Jehovah's  witness,  as  in  43  :  10.  The  last  words 
should  probably  read,  Is  there  any  God  or  Rock  besides  me? 

44 :  9-20.  The  powerful  emphasis  in  vss.  6-8  on  the  greatness  of 
Jehovah  has  led  to  the  insertion  of  an  elaborate  passage  on  the 
folly  of  idolatry,  which  is  exposed  in  a  grimly  humorous  and 
scornful  description  of  the  process  of  idol  manufacture  (cf.  40  :  18- 
20;  41 :  6  f.). 

The  Uselessness  of  the  Idols  and  the  Stupidity  of  Those  who  make 
Them  (vss.  9-1 1) 

9.  Their  delectable  things,  the  idols.  Their  witnesses  (omit 
own),  i.e.  their  worshippers  (cf.  vs.  8),  have  no  perception,  are 
stupid,  with  the  result  that  they  will  be  put  to  shame. 

10.  Perhaps  a  statement  rather  than  a  question.  Any  otte  who 
in  his  folly  imagines  that  he  has  fashioned  a  god,  will  find  to  his 
cost  that  he  has  really  done  nothing  but  cast  a  graven  image  that  is 
utterly  useless. 

292 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  44:14 


11.  Behold,  all  his  fellows  shall  be  ashamed  ; 
And  the  workmen,  they  are  of  men  : 

Let  them  all  be  gathered  together,  let  them  stand  up ; 
They  shall  fear,  they  shall  be  ashamed  together. 

12.  The  smith  ^  maketh  an  axe,  and  worketh  in  the  coals, 
And  fashioneth  it  with  hammers,  and  worketh  it  with 

his  strong  arm : 
Yea,  he  is  hungry,  and  his  strength  faileth  ;  he  drinketh 
no  water,  and  is  faint. 

13.  The  carpenter  stretcheth  out  a  Hne  ; 

He  marketh  it  out  with  -  a  pencil ;  he  shapeth  it  with 

planes. 
And  he  marketh  it  out  with  the  compasses, 
And  shapeth  it  after  the  figure  of  a  man, 
According  to  the  beauty  of  a  man,  to  ^  dwell  in  the 

house. 

14.  ^  He  heweth  him  down  cedars, 

And  taketh  the  holm  tree  and  the  oak, 


1  Gr.  sharpens.    2  m.  red  ochre.     ^  Gr.  set.     ^  Gr.  He  cuts  wood  out  of  the  thicket  which 
the  Lord  planted,  even  a  pine,  and  the  rain,  etc. 

II.  Perhaps: 

Behold,  all  his  charmers  will  he  put  to  shame, 
And  his  enchanters  will  he  confounded  (Cheyne). 

Even  all  their  combined  skill  could  lead  to  no  other  result. 

The  Manufacture  (vss.   12  f.) 

The  smith  (contrasted  with  the  carpenter,  vs.  13)  works  with 

the  coals  (omit  an  axe,  and).  The  process  of  fabricating  his  god 
makes  him  hungry  and  thirsty.  House,  perhaps  a  private  house 
or  chapel. 

Securing  the  Material  for  a  Wooden  Idol  (vss.  14-17) 

14.  Read,  (He  went)  to  cut  the  wood  for  his  use,  choosing  a  plane 
or  an  oak.     For  he  planteth  a  fir  tree,  etc.,  read,  which  the  Lord 

293 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  strengtheneth  for  himself  one  among  the  trees  of 

the  forest.: 
He  planteth  a  ^  fir  tree,  and  the  rain  doth  nourish  it. 

15.  Then  shall  it  be  for  a  man  to  burn  : 

And  he  taketh  thereof,  and  warmeth  himself ; 

Yea,  he  kindleth  it,  and  baketh  bread  : 

Yea,  he  maketh  a  god,  and  worshippeth  it ; 

He  maketh  it  a  graven  image,  and  f  alleth  down  thereto. 

16.  He  burneth  -  part  thereof  in  the  fire ; 
With  ^  part  thereof  he  ^  eateth  flesh  ; 
He  roasteth  roast,  and  is  satisfied  : 

Yea,  he  warmeth  himself,  and  saith, 
"Aha,  I  am  warm,  I  have  seen  the  fire"  : 

17.  And  the  residue  thereof  he  maketh  a  god, 

Even  his  graven  image  :   he  falleth  down  unto  it 

And  worshippeth,  and  prayeth  unto  it. 

And  saith,  "Deliver  me ;  for  thou  art  my  god." 

18.  They  know  not,  neither  do  they  consider : 

For  he  hath  ^  shut  their  eyes,  that  they  cannot  see ; 
And  their  hearts,  that  they  cannot  understand. 

19.  And  none  calleth  to  mind. 

Neither  is  there  knowledge  nor  understanding  to  say. 


1  m.  ash.    2  m.  the  fialf.     ^  Gr.  bakes  loaves  on  the  coals  and  roasts  flesh  thereon  and 
eats  and  is  satisfied.     *  Heb.  daubed. 

planted  (so  Gr.),  i.e.  a  natural  tree  (cf.  Ps.  104:  16),  and  the  rain 
nourished. 

16  f.  With  part  thereof  :  read  with  Gr.  on  the  coals  thereof.  He 
roasts  flesh,  he  eats  the  roast  (roasting  before  eating ;  transpose  the 
verbs).  I  have  seen  the  fire,  /  feel  the  glow.  He  prays  to  the 
useless  image  (cf.  vss.  9  f.). 

The  Stupidity  of  Idolaters  (vss.  18-20) 

18  f.  It  must  be  incurable  stupidity  (cf.  vs.  9)  which  blinds  one 
to  the  absurdity  of  making  a  god  to  be  worshipped  out  of  scraps  of 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  44:23 


"I  have  burned  part  of  it  in  the  fire  ; 

Yea,  also  I  have  baked  bread  upon  the  coals  thereof ; 

I  have  roasted  flesh  and  eaten  it : 

And  shall  I  make  the  residue  thereof  an  abomination  ? 

Shall  I  fall  down  to  the  stock  of  a  tree  ?  " 

20.  He  feedeth  on  ashes :    a  deceived  heart  hath  turned 

him  aside, 
That  he  cannot  dehver  his  soul,  nor  say, 
''Is  there  not  a  lie  in  my  right  hand?" 

Let  the  World  rejoice  over  IsraeVs  Redemption  (44 :  21-23) 

21.  Remember  these  things,  0  Jacob  ; 

And  Israel,  for  thou  art  my  servant : 
I  have  formed  thee  ;    thou  art  my  servant : 
O  Israel,  thou  shalt  not  ^  be  forgotten  of  me. 

22.  I  have  blotted  out,  as  a  thick  cloud,  thy  transgressions, 

And,  as  a  cloud,  thy  sins  : 
Return  unto  me  ;  for  I  have  redeemed  thee. 

23.  Sing,  0  ye  heavens,  for  the  Lord  hath  done  it ; 

Shout,  ye  lower  parts  of  the  earth  ; 

1  Gr.  forget  me. 

wood  left  over  from  burning  and  baking.     The  whole  passage  is 
full  of  remorseless  irony.     Abomination,  i.e.  abominable  idol. 

20.  He  feedeth  on  ashes,  etc. :  rather  as  for  the  man  who  de- 
lighteth  in  ashes  {i.e.  in  wooden,  combustible  idols,  15  ff.)  a  deluded 
heart  has  misled  him,  so  that  he  can  neither  save  himself,  as  he  had 
hoped  to  do  (vs.  17),  nor  even  understand  that  he  is  clinging  to  a 
delusion. 

21.  These  things,  Jehovah's  greatness  and  power  to  predict  the 
future  (vss.  6-8).     Be  forgotten  of:  perhaps  renounce. 

23.  A  glad  appeal  to  nature  to  break  into  song  over  the  re- 
demption of  Israel.  With  this  little  burst  of  joy,  the  passage 
descriptive  of  the  high  destiny  of  the  Servant  concludes  (42  :  i- 
44:  23). 

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44:24  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Break  forth  into  singing,  ye  mountains, 

O  forest,  and  every  tree  therein  : 
For  the  Lord  hath  redeemed  Jacob, 

And  will  glorify  himself  in  Israel. 

Cyrus  and  the  Overthrow  of  Babylon  (44  :  24-48  :  22) 

Jehovah  calls  Cyrus  and  bestows  upon  him    a    Career  of 
Victory,  for  Israel  and  the  World's  Sake  (44  :  24-45  •  ^) 

24.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  thy  redeemer. 

And  he  that  formed  thee  from  the  womb : 
I  am  the  Lord,  that  maketh  all  things ; 
That  stretcheth  forth  the  heavens  alone  ; 


In  this  section  the  nation  has  repeatedly  come  before  us  in  a 
double  capacity :  on  the  one  hand,  the  people  are  blind  and  deaf, 
robbed  and  spoiled,  sinful  and  irresponsive ;  on  the  other,  they  are 
servants  and  witnesses,  precious  and  beloved,  redeemed  and  re- 
stored, the  wonder  of  the  world.  Striking  contrasts  abound  — 
Israel  as  she  is  and  as  she  is  to  be,  her  present  misery  and  the 
glorious  redemption  that  is  about  to  break,  her  present  apathy  and 
the  sense  of  her  great  destiny  which  is  so  profoundly  to  afifect 
the  world.  And  behind  all  her  changing  fortunes  is  her  unchang- 
ing God,  the  First  and  the  Last:   I  am  He. 

44:  24-48:  22.  In  this  section  Cyrus  is  the  centre  of  interest 
as  the  Servant  was  in  the  last.  Israel  has  been  assured  that,  de- 
spite her  sin  and  blindness,  her  redemption  is  nigh.  Her  true 
Redeemer  is  Jehovah,  but  Cyrus  is  the  human  agent  through  whom 
he  works  —  his  Friend  and  Anointed  (or  Messiah)  as  the  prophet 
boldly  calls  him.  His  victories,  most  of  all  his  impending  victory 
over  Babylon,  which  will  procure  the  emancipation  and  restoration 
of  Israel,  constitute  a  signal  contribution  to  Jehovah's  purpose 
for  the  world,  which,  through  Israel,  is  to  be  brought  to  a  saving 
knowledge  of  himself.  Without  Cyrus  this  consummation  is 
impossible. 

24.  The  introductory  description  of  Jehovah  as  the  maker  of 
all  things,  and  the  Lord  of  history  (vs.  26),  leads  to  a  fine  climax 
in  the  announcement  of  the  name  of  Cyrus  (vs.  28).  Who  is 
with  me?    read  was. 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


That  spreadeth  abroad  the  earth  ; 
^  Who  is  with  me  ? 

25.  That  frustrateth  the  tokens  of  the  ^  Uars, 

And  maketh  diviners  mad  ; 

That  turneth  wise  men  backward, 
And  maketh  their  knowledge  fooHsh : 

26.  That  confirmeth  the  word  of  his  ^  servant, 

And  performeth  the  counsel  of  his  messengers. 

That  saith  of  Jerusalem,  "She  shall  be  inhabited"; 
And  of  the  cities  of  Judah,  "They  shall  be  built, 
And  I  will  raise  up  the  waste  places  thereof ": 

27.  That  saith  to  the  deep,  "Be  dry, 

And  I  will  dry  up  thy  rivers"  : 

28.  That  ^  saith  of  Cyrus,  "He  is  my  shepherd, 

And  shall  perform  all  my  pleasure"  : 
Even  saying  of  Jerusalem,  "She  shall  be  built"  ; 
And  to  the  temple,  "Thy  foundation  shall  be  laid." 

1  Heb.  variant,  AV  by  myself.  2  m.  boasters.  3  Qne  Gr.  MS.  Tar.  servants.  *  Gr. 
hiddeth  Cyrus  be  wise. 

25  f.  Tokens  of  the  liars,  omens  of  the  Babylonian  astrologers. 
In  contrast  to  these  are  the  servants  (rather  than  servant)  and 
messengers  of  Israel,  i.e.  the  prophets,  whose  words  are  confirmed 
by  Jehovah.  Many  scholars  believe  that  the  last  half  of  vs.  28 
is  a  variant  to  the  last  half  of  vs.  26,  which,  completed  with  the 
help  of  vs.  28,  should  therefore  run  : 

Who  says  of  Jerusalem:   Let  her  he  inhabited  ! 

And  of  the  Temple:   Be  thy  foundation  laid! 
And  of  the  cities  of  Judah:   Let  them  he  huilt! 

A  fid  the  ruins  thereof  I  will  raise. 

27.  The  deep  .  .  .  rivers,  symbolic  of  the  difficulties  to  be 
encountered. 

28.  Shepherd,  i.e.  ruler :  but  more  probably  we  should  point 
to  read  the  more  august  title  my  Friend.     It  is  this  foreigner  who 

297 


45: 1 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


45.  Thus  saith  the  ^  Lord 

To  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus, 
Whose  right  hand  I  have  holden, 
To  subdue  nations  before  him. 
And  I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings ; 

To  open  the  doors  before  him, 
And  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut ; 

2.  "I  will  go  before  thee, 

And  ^  make  the  rugged  places  plain : 

I  will  break  in  pieces  the  doors  of  brass. 
And  cut  in  sunder  the  bars  of  iron  : 

3.  And  I  will  give  thee  the  treasures  of  darkness. 

And  hidden  riches  of  secret  places, 
That  thou  mayest  know  that  I  am  the  ^  Lord, 

Which   call   thee  by  thy  name   even   the   God   of 
Israel. 

1  Gr.  Lord  God.        2  Qx.   level  mountains. 


has  been  chosen  to  perform  Jehovah's  purpose  —  the  restoration 
of  Jerusalem  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple. 

45:  I.  Cyrus  is  not  only  Jehovah's  Friend,  but  his  Anointed 
(Heb.  Messiah),  i.e.  dedicated  by  him  to  a  special  mission.  The 
mission  was  the  emancipation  of  Israel  (vs.  4),  ultimately  the 
salvation  of  the  world  (vss.  22,  6);  and  to  this  end  a  victorious 
career  was  necessary  —  to  subdue  nations.  The  gates  are  those 
of  cities  to  be  captured.  The  clause  I  will  loose  the  loins  of 
kings,  i.e.  ungird,  disarm,  defeat  them,  is  more  appropriately 
transferred  to  the  beginning  of  5b. 

2.  Cyrus  is  to  be  sustained  (vs.  i)  and  accompanied  in  his 
career  by  Jehovah.  Doors  of  brass,  a  possible  allusion  to  Baby- 
lon with  its  hundred  gates  of  brass. 

3.  Treasures  :  stored  in  dark  and  secret  chambers.  Cyrus  was 
already  master  of  the  wealth  of  Croesus,  whom  he  had  defeated, 
and  was  soon  to  be  of  Babylon :  for  it  is  I,  Jehovah,  who  calls 
thee  by  name  (omit  that  thou  mayest  know). 

298 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  45 :  7 


4.  For  Jacob  my  servant's  sake, 

And  Israel  my  chosen, 
I  have  called  thee  by  thy  name  : 
I  have  surnamed  thee,  though  thou  hast  not  known 
me. 

5.  I  am  the  ^  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else  ; 

Beside  me  there  is  no  God  : 

I  will  gird  thee,  though  thou  hast  not  known  me  : 

6.  That  they  may  know  from  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

And  from  the  west. 
That  there  is* none  beside  me  :    I  am  the  ^  Lord, 
And  there  is  none  else. 

7.  I  form  the  Hght,  and  create  darkness  ; 

I  make  peace,  and  create  evil ; 
I  am  the  ^  Lord, 

That  doeth  all  these  things." 

1  Gr.  Lord  God. 


4.  Cyrus's  call  and  victories  are  for  Israel's  sake  —  for  her 
emancipation  and  restoration.  For  have  surnamed  (cf .  44 :  5) 
perhaps  delight  in  (so  Gr.)  Thou  hast  not  known  me :  Cyrus 
was  not  a  Jehovah  worshipper,  but  his  victorious  career  is  expected 
to  bring  him  (cf.  41  :  25)  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  world 
(vs.  6)  to  the  recognition  of  Jehovah. 

5  f.  Before  I  gird  thee,  read  the  loins  of  kings  I  ungird  (from 
vs.  i) ;  they  are  defeated,  he  is  victorious;  and  the  ultimate,  as 
opposed  to  the  immediate  (vs.  4),  object  of  his  victory  is  that  the 
world  from  east  to  west  may  recognize  that  there  is  no  God  but  Is- 
rael's God. 

7.  There  are  not  two  gods  in  the  world  —  one  presiding  over 
light  and  good,  the  other  over  darkness  and  evil  —  there  is  only 
one,  and  that  is  Jehovah,  the  cause  and  maker  of  all  things,  and 
therefore  of  these  things.  Peace,  welfare,  good  fortune;  evil, 
calamity.  The  section  ends,  as  it  began  (44  :  24),  with  the  thought 
of  God  as  the  maker  of  all  things. 

299 


45:8  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


8.  Drop  down,  ye  heavens,  from  above, 

And  let  the  skies  pour  down  righteousness  : 
Let  the  earth  open, 

That  they  may  bring  forth  salvation. 
And  let   her   cause   righteousness   to    spring   up   to- 
gether ; 

I  the  Lord  have  created  ^  it. 

Murmurs  against  Cyrus  Rebuked  (45  :  9-13) 

9.  Woe  unto  him  that  striveth  with  his  Maker  ! 

A  potsherd  among  the  potsherds  of  the  earth  ! 
Rom. 9: 20  ^Yi2i\\  the  clay  say  to  him  that  fashioneth  it,  "What 

makest  thou?" 
Or  thy  work,  "He  hath  no  hands?" 
10.  Woe  unto  him  that  saith  unto  a  father,  "What  be- 
gettest  thou  ?  " 
Or  to  a  woman,  "With  what  travailest  thou?" 

2  Gr.  thee. 

8.  The  vision  of  a  converted  world  causes  the  prophet  to  break 
into  a  little  song  of  joy  (cf.  44  :  23).  The  righteousness  of  heaven  is 
answered  by  the  righteousness  of  earth ;  there  is,  as  it  were,  "  a 
bridal  of  the  earth  and  sky"  (cf.  Hos.  2  :  21  f.),  so  that  upon  the 
earth  salvation  and  peace  (as  Duhm  supplies;  the  verb  is  plural) 
spring  up. 

45  :  9-13-  There  must  have  been  some  Israelites  to  whom  the 
titles  of  Jehovah's  Friend  and  Anointed  (44:  28;  45:  i)  seemed 
much  too  extravagant  an  honor  to  confer  upon  a  foreigner.  Their 
national  pride  was  insulted.  Such  murmurers  are  reminded  that 
Jehovah,  as  the  unchallengeable  Sovereign  and  Creator  of  the 
world  and  men,  has  deliberately  chosen  Cyrus  to  execute  his  pur- 
pose of  emancipating  Israel. 

9.  Jehovah  is  the  potter,  Israel  the  clay ;  and  it  is  for  the  potter 
to  say  how  the  clay  is  to  be  moulded.  Israel  has  no  right  to  mur- 
mur at  Jehovah's  choice  of  Cyrus.  Among,  i.e.  no  better  than 
an  earthen  potsherd.  Thy  work,  etc, :  read  His  work:  thou  hast 
no  hands. 

300 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  45:14 


11.  Thus  saith  the  ^Lord, 

The  Holy  One  of  Israel,  and  his  Maker : 
Ask  me  of  the  things  that  are  to  come  ; 

Concerning  my  sons,  and  concerning  the  work  of 
my  hands,  command  ye  me. 

12.  I  have  made  the  earth, 

And  created  man  upon  it : 
I,  even  my  hands,  have  stretched  out  the  heavens, 
And  all  their  host  have  I  commanded. 

13.  I  have  raised  him  up  in  righteousness, 

And  I  will  make  straight  all  his  ways ; 
He  shall  build  my  city. 

And  he  shall  let  my  exiles  go  free, 
Not  for  price  nor  reward, 

Saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

The  Heathen  acknowledge  the  Uniqueness  oj  Israel  and  her 
God  (45  :  14-17) 


14.  Thus  saith  the  ^  Lord, 


1  Gr.  Lord  God.        2  Gr.  Lord  of  hosts. 


II.  Omit  concerning  my  sons,  as  an  erroneous  explanation  of 
the  work  of  my  hands,  which  really  signifies  the  whole  historical 
situation.     Read : 

Of  things  to  come  would  ye  question  me? 

Or  concerning  the  work  of  my  hands  command  me? 

12  f.  It  is  no  less  an  one  than  the  Creator  of  the  world  (vs.  12) 
that  has  raised  up  Cyrus  as  his  instrument,  and  he  has  done  this 
in  righteousness,  i.e.  as  was  meet  and  right ;  hence  the  folly  and 
impiety  of  Israel's^  murmurs.  Their  host,  the  stars.  Cyrus's 
task  is  the  emancipation  and  restoration  of  Israel.  My  city, 
Jerusalem  (44:  26).     The  clause  not  for  price  nor  reward,  which  is 

301 


45 :  15  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  Cor.  14 :  25 


The  labour  of  Egypt,  and  the  merchandise  of  Ethiopia, 

And  the  Sabeans,  men  of  stature. 
Shall  come  over  unto  thee,  and  they  shall  be  thine  ; 

They  shall  go  after  thee  ;  in  chains  they  shall  come 
over: 

And  they  shall  fall  down  unto  thee. 

They  shall  make  supplication  unto  thee,  sayings 
"Surely  God  is  in  thee  ; 

And  there  is  none  else,  there  is  no  God. 

15.  Verily  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself, 
O  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour." 

irrelevant,  and  inconsistent  with  43  :  3,  is  regarded  by  some  as  a 
later  insertion. 

14.  In  this  verse  it  is  clear  that  the  heathen  pay  some  sort  of 
homage  to  Israel,  though  it  is  difficult  to  be  sure  of  the  details. 
Our  present  text,  which,  from  shall  come  over  to  shall  come  over  is 
rather  heavily  weighted  and  redundant,  represents  Egypt,  Ethio- 
pia, and  Seba  (or  at  least  their  wealth)  as  destined  to  belong  to 
Israel  —  they  shall  he  thine  —  for  the  clause  Surely  God  is  in  thee 
shows  that  Israel  is  being  addressed.  But  this  is  inconsistent 
with  43  :  3,  which  assigns  these  peoples  to  Cyrus.  It  is  possible, 
as  Cheyne  and  Marti  believe,  that  this  verse  has  been  expanded, 
in  the  spirit  of  a  somewhat  later  age  (cf.  60 :  11 ;  61  :  5  f.),  so  as  to 
suggest  the  idea  that  the  wealth  of  the  world  shall  one  day  belong 
to  Israel,  and  that  the  original  may  have  simply  run : 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts:    The  exiles  of  Egypt, 

And  the  captives  of  Ethiopia,  and  the  Sahceans,  men  of  stature^ 

Before  thee  shall  pass,  and  to  thee  shall  bow  down,  etc. 

The  confession  of  the  heathen  which  begins  with  Surely  continues 
to  the  end  of  vs.  17. 
15  f.  Read: 

Verily  with  thee  {i.e.  Israel)  God  hides  himself,  the  God  of  Israel  is  a 

Saviour. 
Ashamed,  yea,  confounded,  are  all  who  rise  up  against  Him  (so  Gr.). 

These  vss.  acknowledge  that  Israel's  God  is  the  only  true  God, 
and  suggest  the  complete  collapse  of  the  idolatrous  religions. 
Israel  holds  the  religious  secret  of  the  world  (cf.  42  :  6). 

302 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  45 :  19 


16.  They  shall  be  ashamed,  yea,  confounded,  all  ^  of  them, 

2  They  shall  go  into  confusion   together  that  are 
makers  of  idols. 

17.  But  Israel  shall  be  saved  by  the  Lord 

With  an  everlasting  salvation  : 
Ye  shall  not  be  ashamed  nor  confounded 
World  without  end. 

Jehovah  desires  the  Salvation  of  the  whole  World  (45  :  18-25) 

18.  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  that  created  the  heavens  ; 

He  is  God ; 
That  formed  the  earth  and  made  it ; 

He  estabhshed  it, 
He  created  it  not  a  ^  waste. 

He  formed  it  to  be  inhabited  : 
I  am  the  Lord;  and  there  is  none  else. 

19.  I  have  not  spoken  in  secret. 

In  a  place  of  the  land  of  darkness  ; 
I  said  not  unto  the  seed  of  Jacob, 
"Seek  ye  me  ^  in  vain"  : 

1  Gr.  that  oppose  him.  2  Gr.  keep  a  feast  of  consecration  to  me,  ye  islands.  ^  Heb. 
chaos.  ■*  m.  as  in  a  waste  (chaos;  cf.  vs.  18) ;  Gr.  {seek)  vanity:  I,  I  am  the  Lord, 
who  speak,  etc. 

17.  This  deliverance  of  Israel,  which  has  behind  it  such  a  God 
as  Jehovah,  is  decisive  for  all  time  —  not  only  the  guarantee,  but 
actually  the  beginning,  of  her  Messianic  age. 

45  :  18-25.  God's  purpose,  alike  in  nature  (18),  revelation  (19) 
and  history  (22  f.),  is  beneficent  —  not  waste  and  destruction,  but 
life,  salvation.  All  his  action,  alike  in  creation  and  history,  is 
inspired  by  his  love  for  men. 

18.  The  world  he  created  to  be  not  a  waste,  but  the  home  of 
saved  men. 

19.  Though  it  is  true  that  it  is  in  Israel  that  Jehovah  hides 
(and  reveals)  himself  (vs.  15),  his  words  within  Israel,  spoken  by 

303 


45:20  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  the  Lord  speak  righteousness, 
I  declare  things  that  are  right. 

20.  Assemble  yourselves  and  come ;    draw  near  together, 

Ye  that  are  escaped  of  the  nations  : 
They  have  no  knowledge  that  carry 
The  wood  of  their  graven  image, 
'    And  pray  unto  a  god 
That  cannot  save. 

21.  Declare  ye,  and  bring  it  forth  ; 

Yea,  let  them  take  counsel  together : 
Who  hath  shewed  this  from  ancient  time  ? 

Who  hath  declared  it  of  old  ? 
Have  not  I  the  Lord  ? 

And  there  is  no  God  else  beside  me. 
A  just  God  and  a  saviour  ; 

There  is  none  beside  me. 

22.  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved, 

All  the  ends  of  the  earth  : 
For  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else. 

23.  By  myself  have  I  sworn, 

his  human  representatives,  the  prophets,  have  not  been  obscure 
or  mysterious,  like  the  oracular  utterances  of  the  heathen,  but 
clear,  frank,  and  true  —  righteousness  and  right,  i.e.  words  which 
are  right  and  true,  as  the  near  future  will  show.  In  vain,  "  lit. 
in  chaos,  i.e.  without  definite  guidance  and  without  hope  of  re- 
sult"  (Skinner). 

20  f.  Another  scene  like  41  :  1-4  21-29  ;  43  •  9~i3-  The  futility 
of  the  heathen  gods  is  proved  by  their  inability  to  predict  the 
future.  Jeremiah  and  other  prophets,  in  the  inspiration  of  Je- 
hovah, had  predicted  the  exile  and  the  restoration. 

22-25.  These  verses  form  a  magnificent  climax  to  the  poem  on 
Cyrus  beginning  44 :  24.  They  show  Jehovah's  real  object,  in  the 
deliverance  of  Israel  by  Cyrus,  to  be  the  salvation  of  the  whole 
world. 

304 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


^  The  word  is  gone  forth  from  my  mouth  in  righteous- 
ness, 

And  shall  not  return, 
That  unto  me  every  knee  shall  bow, 

Every  tongue  shall  swear. 

24.  Only  in  the  Lord,  shall  one  say  unto  me. 

Is  righteousness  and  strength  : 
Even  to  him  shall  men  come, 
And  all  they  that  were  incensed  against  him  shall 
be  ashamed. 

25.  In  the  Lord  shall  all  the  seed  of  Israel 

Be  justified,  and  shall  glory. 

The  Downfall  of  Babylon's  Gods  (46  :  1-13) 

46.  Bel  boweth  dowTi,  ^  Nebo  stoopeth  ; 

Their  idols  are  upon  the  beasts,  and  upon  the  cattle  : 

1  m.  righteausness  is  gone  forth  from  my  mouth,  a  word  which  shall  not  return.  2  Some 
Gr.  MSS.  read  Dagon. 

22  i.  The  word  ...  in  righteousness,  i.e.  a  true  word.  Jeho- 
vah's unalterable  purpose  is  to  save  the  whole  world  (through  the 
knowledge  of  him  which  redeemed  Israel  possesses,  vs.  15),  and 
in  consequence  to  receive  universal  homage  and  worship ;  but 
it  is  for  the  individuals  themselves  to  look,  to  turn,  to  him.  Shall 
swear,  i.e.  allegiance  to  him. 

24  f.  This  verse  is  somewhat  obscure.  The  meaning  appears 
to  be  : 

Only  through  Jehovah  has  Jacob  victories  (lit.  righteousness)  and 

strength; 
For  his  sake   shall    be   put  to    confusion  and   shame  all  that  were 

incensed  against  him. 

Again  we  have  the  telling  contrast  (cf.  16  f.)  between  the  gentile 
nations  and  Israel,  with  her  wonderful  God  —  Israel's  triumph  and 
joy  in  her  God  being  specially  emphasized  in  the  concluding  verse. 
Chap.  46.  To  the  ancient  mind  the  overthrow  of  Babylon  was 
equivalent  to  the  overthrow  of  her  gods.     This  chapter  scornfully 

X  305 


46:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  things  that  ye  carried  about  are  made  a  load,  a 
burden  to  the  weary  heast. 

2.  They  stoop,  they  bow  down  together ; 
They  could  not  dehver  the  burden. 
But  themselves  are  gone  into  captivity. 

3.  Hearken  unto  me,  O  house  of  Jacob, 

And  all  the  remnant  of  the  house  of  Israel, 
Which  have  been  borne  hy  me  from  the  belly, 
Which  have  been  carried  from  the  womb. 

4.  And  even  to  old  age  I  am  he. 

And  even  to  hoar  hairs  will  I  carry  you : 
I  have  made,  and  I  will  bear  ; 
Yea,  I  will  carry,  and  will  deliver. 

depicts  their  fate,  and  takes  occasion  to  contrast  their  foolish 
impotence  with  the  victorious  power  of  Jehovah. 

1.  The  gods  are  pictured  as  already  prostrate.  Bel,  here  = 
Merodach  or  Marduk,  the  patron  God  of  Babylon ;  Nebo,  his 
son,  probably  the  patron  of  the  dynasty  (cf.  JVeZ^z/chadrezzar). 
The  beasts  are  beasts  of  burden,  on  whose  weary  backs  the  idols 
are  packed  for  the  flight.  Ye,  which  must  refer  to  the  Babylo- 
nians, is  here  inapplicable  in  an  address  to  Israel  (cf.  vs.  3).  The 
verse,  which  is  cumbrous  in  comparison  with  vs.  2,  may  origi- 
nally have  been  briefer  —  thus  : 

Bel  is  bowed  down,  Nebo  croucheth, 
Their  idols  are  consigned  to  the  beasts, 
Lifted  up,  laden  on  the  weary. 

2.  The  idea  is  that  the  gods  could  not  save  their  own  idols  from 
the  fate  of  captivity ;  they  are  simply  "  so  much  dead  weight  for 
weary  beasts  "  (G.  A.  Smith). 

3  f .  What  a  contrast  (cf.  vs.  5)  between  those  helpless  gods  and 
the  God  of  Israel !  Their  people  have  to  carry  them,  but  Israel's 
God  carries  his  people  forever.  Vs.  3  echoes  vs.  i,  and  gives  its 
thought  a  profound  and  brilliant  turn,  finely  suggesting  the  sus- 
taining power  of  true  religion.  For  I  have  made  read  perhaps 
/  have  borate. 

306 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


5.  To  whom  will  ye  liken  me,  and  make  me  equal, 

And  compare  me,  that  we  may  be  hke  ? 

6.  Such  as  lavish  gold  out  of  the  bag. 

And  weigh  silver  in  the  balance. 
They  hire  a  goldsmith,  and  he  maketh  it  a  god ; 
They  fall  down,  yea,  they  worship. 

7.  They  bear  him  upon  the  shoulder,  they  carry  him, 

And  set  him  in  his  place. 
And  he  standeth  ;  from  his  place  shall  he  not  remove  : 

Yea,  one  shall  cry  unto  him,  yet  can  he  not  answer, 
Nor  save  him  out  of  his  trouble. 

8.  Remember  this,  and  ^  shew  yourselves  men  : 

Bring  it  again  to  mind,  0  ye  transgressors. 

9.  Remember  the  former  things  of  old : 
For  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else ; 

I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  Hke  me  ; 

1  m.  standfast;    Gr.  groan. 

6-8.  In  the  spirit  of  44 :  9-20,  these  vss.  pour  scornful  sarcasm 
upon  the  idols.  For  certain  reasons  (cf.  change  of  person  from 
second  to  third,  characterization  of  Israel  as  transgressors  or 
rebels,  vs.  8,  whereas  elsewhere  she  is  Jehovah's  witness ;  cf.  43  :  10, 
etc.),  some  recent  scholars  believe  these  verses  to  be  an  interpola- 
tion. 

6  f .  The  gold  and  silver  are  not  to  pay  the  goldsmith  ;  they  are 
for  use  in  the  construction  of  the  image,  which  is  small  enough  to 
be  carried  on  the  shoulder.  Once  fixed  in  his  place,  the  god  can 
neither  move  nor  speak,  —  stiff,  mute,  helpless,  —  a  very  scornful 
picture. 

8.  Show  yourselves  men,  perhaps  acknowledge  your  guilt. 

9-1 1.  Former  things,  deeds  and  especially  predictions,  which 
show  that  Jehovah  alone  is  God.  His  irresistible  will  must  be 
done,  and  it  is  done  by  calling.  Cyrus,  the  ravenous  bird,  who  will 
swoop  victorious  like  an  eagle  upon  the  prey.  The  man  of  my 
counsel,  i.e.  who  executes  my  counsel  (so  A.V.). 

307 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


10.  Declaring  the  end  from  the  beginning, 

And  from  ancient  times  things  that  are  not  yet  done  ; 
Saying,  My  counsel  shall  stand, 
And  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure  ; 

11.  Calhng  a  ravenous  bird  from  the  east, 

The  man  of  my  counsel  from  a  far  country  ; 
Yea,  I  have  spoken,  I  will  also  bring  it  to  pass ; 
I  have  purposed,  I  will  also  do  it. 

12.  Hearken  unto  me,  ye  ^  stouthearted, 

That  are  far  from  righteousness  : 

13.  I  bring  near  my  righteousness,  it  shall  not  be  far  off, 

And  my  salvation  shall  not  tarry  ; 
And  I  will  2  place  salvation  in  Zion 
For  Israel  my  glory. 

The  Downfall  of  Babylon  (47  : 1-15) 

47.  Come  down,  and  sit  in  the  dust, 
O  virgin  daughter  of  Babylon  ; 

*  Gr.  that  have  lost  heart.  2  m.  give  salvation  in  Zion,  and  my  glory  unto  Israel. 

12  i.  With  such  a  God,  why  should  Israel  faint  or  fear?  Stout- 
hearted, TSiiher  faint-hearted  (so  Gr.).  Righteousness,  as  so  often 
in  this  prophecy,  practically  =  victory,  salvation.  This  is  not, 
as  they  suppose,  far  of,  but,  through  the  victories  of  Cyrus,  is 
near. 

Chap.  47.  This  taunt-song  on  the  downfall  of  Babylon  appro- 
priately follows  the  song  on  the  downfall  of  her  gods  (Chap.  46). 
She  is  here  portrayed  as  a  haughty  queen  reduced  to  the  condition 
of  the  meanest  slave,  and  all  her  magicians  and  astrologers  are 
powerless  to  save  her. 

The  Humiliation  of  Babylon  (vss.  1-4) 

I  f.  Babylon  is  herself  the  virgin,  tender  and  delicate,  once  en- 
throned, now  throneless,  sitting  in  humihation  on  the  ground,  and 

308 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  47:6 


Sit  on  the  ground  without  a  throne, 

O  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans  ; 
For  thou  shalt  no  more  be  called 

Tender  and  deUcate. 

2.  Take  the  millstones,  and  grind  meal : 

Remove  thy  veil. 
Strip  off  the  train,  uncover  the  leg. 
Pass  through  the  rivers. 

3.  Thy  nakedness  shall  be  uncovered. 

Yea,  thy  shame  shall  be  seen  : 
I  will  take  vengeance,  and  will  ^  accept  no  man. 

4.  2  Our  redeemer, 

The  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name. 
The  Holy  One  of  Israel. 

5.  Sit  thou  silent,  and  get  thee  into  darkness, 

0  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans  : 
For  thou  shalt  no  more  be  called 

The  Lady  of  Kingdoms. 

6.  I  was  wroth  with  my  people, 

1  profaned  mine  inheritance, 

1  Heb.  meet ;    SV  spare  ;    AV  /  will  not  meet  thee  as  a  man  ;    Gr.  I  will  no  more 
at  all  deliver  thee  to  men.     2  Some  Gr.  MSS.  here  read  saith. 

reduced  to  the  position  of  the  meanest  maidservant,  who  grinds 
the  meal  (cf.  Exod.  11 :  5).  The  rivers  may  be  those  passed  on  the 
way  to  exile,  or  the  whole  clause  may  suggest  the  degradations  of 
her  lot. 

3  f.  The  first  half  of  vs.  3  is  probably  a  gloss  on  2b,  in  the  second 
half  the  text  is  obscure,  and  vs.  4  should  be  taken  with  3,  thus : 

/  will  take  irrevocable  vengeance,  saith  our  Redeemer. 
Jehovah  of  hosts  is  his  name,  the  holy  One  of  Israel. 

Babylon,  the  Proud  and  Cruel,  laid  Low  (vss.  5-7) 

5.  Darkness,  whether  of  dungeon  or  misery.     Lady,  mistress. 

6.  Jehovah  permitted  Babylon  to  chastise  Israel  because  of 

309 


47:7 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  gave  them  into  thine  hand  : 

Thou  didst  shew  them  no  mercy ; 
Upon  the  aged  hast  thou 
Very  heavily  laid  thy  yoke. 
Rev.  18:7       7.  And  thou  saidst,  "I  shall  be 
A  lady  for  ever"  : 
So  that    thou   didst    not    lay  these    things  to   thy 
heart, 
Neither  didst  remember  the  latter  end  thereof. 

8.  Now   therefore    hear    this,   thou   that    art  given   to 

pleasures. 

That  ^  dwellest  carelessly, 
That  sayest  in  thine  heart, 

"I  am,  and  there  is  none  else  beside  me; 
I  shall  not  sit  as  a  widow. 

Neither  shall  I  know  the  loss  of  children"  : 

9.  But  these  two  things  shall  come  to  thee 

In  a  moment,  in  one  day, 
The  loss  of  children,  and  widowhood:    ^in  their  full 
measure 
Shall  they  come  upon  thee, 

1  m.  SV  sittest  securely.        ~  Gr.  Syr.  suddenly. 

her  sin,  but  Babylon  proved  cruel,  especially  to  the  aged  (Lam. 
5:12). 

7.  Cruel,  and  proud,  for  she  said,  /  shall  endure  for  ever,  he  mis- 
tress for  aye.  These  things,  the  fact  that  her  power  over  Israel 
was  only  temporary,  consequent  upon  Jehovah's  anger  (vs.  6), 
and  that  the  latter  end,  i.e.  the  issue  of  it  all,  would  be  the  res- 
toration of  Israel  (cf.  Jer.  29 :  11). 

Babylon's  Sudden  Discomfiture  (vss.  8-ioa) 

8.  Widoivhood  and  bereavement :  desolation  of  the  city,  destruc- 
tion or  deportation  of  her  people, 

g.  Babylon  imagined  her  magicians  could  save  her. 
310 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  47:12 


^  Despite  of  the  multitude  of  thy  sorceries, 

And  the  great  abundance  of  thine  enchantments. 

10.  For  thou  hast  trusted  in  thy  wickedness  ; 

Thou  hast  said,  "None  seeth  me." 

Thy  wisdom  and  thy  knowledge, 

It  hath  perverted  thee  : 
And  thou  hast  said  in  thine  heart, 

"I  am,  and  there  is  none  else  beside  me." 

11.  Therefore  shall  evil  come  upon  thee; 

Thou  shalt  not  know  ^  the  dawning  thereof  : 
And  mischief  shall  fall  upon  thee  ; 

Thou  shalt  not  be  able  to  put  it  away  : 
And  desolation  shall  come  upon  thee  suddenly, 

Which  thou  knowest  not. 

12.  Stand  now  with  thine  enchantments. 

And  with  the  multitude  of  thy  sorceries. 

Wherein  thou  hast  laboured  from  thy  youth, 

^  m.  amidst ;  SV  in.        ^  m.  how  to  charm  it  away. 

10.  For  thou  hast  trusted,  read  and  though  thou  didst  feel  secure. 
None,  especially  no  holy  God. 

Babylon's  Magic  Arts  cannot  save  Her  (vss.  iob-12) 

10.  Babylon's  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  magic  and  sorcery 
(vs.  9)  lulled  her  into  a  false  security. 

11.  This  very  symmetrically  built  verse,  which  asserts  the  impo- 
tence of  sorcery  to  ward  ofif  the  impending  calamity,  offers  a  fine 
climax.  After  the  last  word,  an  infinitive  seems  necessary; 
which  thou  knowest  not  how  to  banish  (by  charm)  : 

Calamity  shall  come  upon  thee,  which  thou  hast  no  knowledge  to 

charm  away  (see  margin), 
Destruction  shall  fall  upon  thee,  which  thou  hast  no  power  to  appease, 
Ruin  shall  suddenly  come,  which  thou  hast  no  knowledge  to  banish  by 

charm. 

12.  An  ironical  challenge  to  the  sorcerers.  Omit  wherein  .  .  . 
youth   (from   vs.    15?).      Read,  Perhaps  thou    {i.e.   through   thy 

311 


47:  13  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


If  so  be  thou  shalt  be  able  to  profit, 
If  so  be  thou  mayest  ^  prevail. 

13.  Thou  art  wearied  in  the  multitude  of  thy  counsels : 

Let  now  the  ^  astrologers, 
The  stargazers,  the  monthly  prognosticators, 

Stand  up. 
And  save  thee  from  the  things 

That  shall  come  upon  thee. 

14.  Behold,  they  shall  be  as  stubble  ; 

The  fire  shall  burn  them  ; 
They  shall  not  deliver  themselves 

From  the  power  of  the  flame  ; 
It  shall  not  be  a  coal  to  warm  at, 

Nor  a  fire  to  sit  before. 

15.  Thus  shall  the  things  be  unto  thee  wherein  thou  hast 

laboured : 
They  that  have  trafficked  with  thee  from  thy  youth 

*  m.  strike  terror.  2  Heb.  dividers  of  the  heavens. 

sorcerers)  mayest  somewhat  avail,  perhaps  thou  mayest  strike  terror 
(so  margin),  i.e.  into  the  demons  that  cause  the  calamity. 

Astrologers,  all,  ore  Impotent:  no  Salvation  possible  for  Babylon 
(vss.  13-15) 

13.  Counsels,  perhaps  counsellors.  The  order  of  RV  is  not  ac- 
curate ;  read,  let  them  stand  forth  and  save  thee,  the  astrologers,  the  star- 
gazers,  those  who  make  known  each  month  whence  {troubles)  are  coming. 
Monthly  almanacs  were  prepared  which  announced  in  advance  lucky 
and  unlucky  days,  etc.     Another  ironical  challenge  (cf.  vs.  12). 

14.  The  astrologers  cannot  save  themselves,  far  less  the  city, 
from  the  fire  which  will  consume  her.     Omit  the  last  clause. 

15.  The  traffickers  SiXQ.  here  irrelevant;  it  is  the  sorcerers  (vs.  9) 
and  astrologers  (vs.  3)  who  are  in  question.     Read : 

Such  are  those  become  unto  thee, 

About  whom  thou  didst  trouble  thyself  from  thy  youth: 
Staggering  they  flee,  every  man  straight  before  him. 

There  is  none  that  can  save  thee. 
312 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Shall  wander  every  one  to  his  quarter  ; 
There  shall  be  none  to  save  thee. 

The  Summons  to  depart  from  Babylon  (48  :  1-22) 

48.  Hear  ye  this,  0  house  of  Jacob, 

Which  are  called  by  the  name  of  Israel, 

And  are  come  forth  ^  out  of  the  waters  of  Judah ; 
Which  swear  by  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
And  make  mention  of  the  God  of  Israel, 
But  not  in  truth,  nor  in  righteousness. 
2.  For  they  call  themselves  of  the  holy  city. 

And  stay  themselves  upon  the  God  of  Israel ; 
The  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name. 

1  Gr.  from  Judah. 

A  fine  picture  of  the  headlong  flight  of  those  to  whom  Babylon 
had  vainly  looked  to  avert  the  disaster. 

Chap.  48.  This  chapter,  which  closes  the  first  great  section  of 
the  prophecy,  touches  briefly  upon  its  leading  themes, —  the 
argument  from  prophecy,  the  "  former  things  "  fulfilled  and  the 
"  new  thing  "  soon  to  be  accomplished,  the  victories  of  Cyrus, 
the  fall  of  Babylon,  —  and  ends  in  an  exultant  appeal  to  Israel 
to  leave  Babylon,  and  then  to  tell  the  wondrous  story  of  her  re- 
demption to  the  whole  world. 

There  is  much  in  the  chapter  which  suggests  the  conclusion 
that  the  original  message  of  the  prophet  has  been  touched,  in 
later  and  very  sorrowful  times,  by  the  hand  of  one  whose  view  of 
Israel  was  much  more  severe  than  that  of  our  prophet.  Elsewhere 
in  this  prophecy  the  charge  against  her  is  chiefly  apathy  and  want 
of  faith ;  here  it  is  disobedience  and  obstinacy. 

The  New  Prophecies  will  he  fulfilled  as  surely  as  the  Old  (vss.  i-ii) 

I  f.  This,  the  message  beginning  with  vs.  3.  Waters,  perhaps 
loins.  Swear  by  the  name  of,  own  allegiance  to.  Make  men- 
tion of,  practically  =  worship.  The  holy  city,  Jerusalem.  The 
religious  insincerity  implied  by  vss.  ib,  2  seems  to  betray  the 
later  hand ;  so  also  the  obstinacy  of  vs.  4. 

313 


48:3  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


3.  I  have  declared  the  former  things  from  of  old  ; 
Yea,  they  went  forth  out  of  my  mouth,  and  I  shewed 

them : 
Suddenly  I  did  them,  and  they  came  to  pass. 

4.  Because  I  knew  that  thou  art  obstinate, 

And  thy  neck  is  an  iron  sinew, 
And  thy  brow  brass  : 

5.  Therefore  I  have  declared  it  to  thee  from  of  old  ; 

Before  it  came  to  pass  I  shewed  it  thee  : 
Lest  thou  shouldest  say,  "Mine  idol  hath  done  them, 
And  my  graven  image,  and  my  molten  image,  hath 
commanded  them." 

6.  ^  Thou  hast  heard  it ;  behold  all  this ; 

And  ye,  will  ye  not  declare  it  ? 
I  have  shewed  thee  new  things  from  this  time. 
Even  hidden  things,  which  thou  hast  not  known. 

7.  They  are  created  now,  and  not  from  of  old ; 

And  before  this  day  thou  heardest  them  not ; 
Lest  thou  shouldest  say,   "Behold,  I  knew  them." 

1  Gr.  ye  have  heard  all  things,  yet  ye  have  not  discerned. 


3-6a.  The  argument  from  prophecy,  which  has  already  been 
met  with  frequently.  If  older  prophecies  have  been  fulfilled, 
the  "  new  thing  "  will  also  be  fulfilled  (cf.  42  :  9).  The  announce- 
ment of  events  in  advance  made  it  impossible  to  say  that  they 
had  been  caused  by  idols,  but  the  idolatry  imphed  by  vs.  5b 
seems  hardly  consistent  with  our  prophet's  general  view  of  Israel's 
past  (cf.  43  :  12).  The  meaning  of  behold  all  this  (vs.  6)  is  rather 
obscure ;  the  text  may  be  faulty.  And  ye,  etc. :  perhaps,  and 
thou,  wilt  not  thou  hear  witness  to  it?  Israel  is  Jehovah's  witness 
(43:  12). 

6b,  7.  I  have  showed,  /  announce.  The  new  and  hidden  things, 
which  are  created  now  (vs.  7),  in  contrast  to  the  former  things, 
(vs.  3)  are  the  rise  of  Cyrus  —  with  all  that  it  involves  —  the  fall 
of  Babylon  (vs.  14),  the  redemption  of  Israel,  and  the  proclamation 
of  the  story  throughout  the  world  (vs.  20). 

314 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  48:12 


8.  Yea,  thou  heardest  not ;   yea,  thou  knewest  not ; 

Yea,  from  of  old  ^  thine  ear  was  not  opened  : 
For  I  knew  that  thou  didst  deal  very  treacherously, 
And  wast  called  a  transgressor  from  the  womb. 

9.  For  my  name's  sake  will  I  -  defer  mine  anger. 

And  ^  for  my  praise  will  I  refrain  for  thee,  that  I  cut 
thee  not  off. 

10.  Behold,  I  have  refined  thee,  but  not  as  silver  ; 

I  have  ^  chosen  thee  in  the  furnace  of  affliction. 

11.  For  mine  own  sake,  for  mine  own  sake,  will  I  do  it, 

For  ^  how  should  my  name  be  profaned  ? 
And  my  glory  will  I  not  give  to  another. 

12.  Hearken  unto  me,  O  Jacob, 

And  Israel  my  called  : 
I  am  he  ;  I  am  the  first,  Rev.  i :  17 

I  also  am  the  last. 

1  Gr.  I  have  not  opened  thine  ears.  2  Gr.  show  thee.  ^  Gr.  my  glorious  acts  /  will 
bring  upon  thee.    *  m.  tried.    *  Gr.  my  name  is  profaned. 

8-1 1.  Only  the  first  half  of  vs.  8  and  the  first  and  third  clauses 
of  vs.  II  seem  to  be  original.  The  idea  of  Israel's  treachery  (vs. 
8b)  and  of  her  possible  extermination  (vs.  9)  is  very  unHke  Deutero- 
Isaiah. 

10.  Read  :'  Surely  I  have  refined  thee,  hut  without  gain  of  silver; 
I  have  tried  thee  in  the  furnace  in  vain  (Cheyne). 

11.  How  is  my  name  profaned  —  apparently  the  sigh  of  a  later 
reader.  My  glory,  the  glory  of  accomphshing  the  "  new  "  and 
"  hidden  things  "  alluded  to  in  vs.  6. 

Cyrus  fulfils  Jehovah's  Purpose  upon  Babylon  (vss.  12-16) 

The  general  mention  of  the  "  new  "  things  easily  leads  to  the 
specific  mention  of  Cyrus,  by  whom  those  things  are  to  be  accom- 
plished. 

12  f.  Again  the  old  emphasis  on  the  eternity  and  the  creative 
power  of  Jehovah.  It  is  no  less  than  the  eternal  One,  the  Creator 
of  the  universe,  who  has  called  Cyrus. 

31S 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


13.  Yea,  mine  hand  hath  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth, 

And  my  right  hand  hath  spread  out  the  heavens  : 
When  I  call  unto  them, 
They  stand  up  together. 

14.  Assemble  yourselves,  all  ye,  and  hear  ; 

Which  among  ^  them  hath  declared  these  things  ? 
2  The  Lord  hath  loved  him :    he  shall  perform  his 
pleasure  on  Babylon, 
And  his  arm  shall  he  on  the  Chaldeans. 

15.  I,  even  I,  have  spoken ;   yea,  I  have  called  him : 

I  have  brought  him,  and  ^  he  shall  make  his  way 
prosperous. 

16.  Come  ye  near  unto  me,  hear  ye  this ; 

From  the  beginning  I  have  not  spoken  in  secret ; 

From  the  time  that  it  was,  there  am  I: 
And  now  the  Lord  God 

Hath  sent  me,  and  his  spirit. 

1  Many  Heb.  MSS.  read  you.  ^  m.  SV  Jte  whom  the  Lord  (SV  Jehovah)  shall,  etc. ; 
Gr.  out  of  love  to  thee  I  have  fulfilled  thy  desire  on  Babylon,  to  destroy  the  seed  of  the 
Chaldeans.     ^  Gr.  Syr.  have  made. 

14.  All  ye  Israelites.  Among  them,  i.e.  the  heathen  gods. 
These  things,  the  rise  and  achievements  of  Cyrus.  The  general 
sense  of  vs.  14b  is  clear;  but  the  detail  is  uncertain,  because  the 
text  is  doubtful.  Either :  He  whom  I  love,  is  accomplishing  my 
pleasure  on  Babylon  and  on  the  seed  of  the  Chaldaeans  (Duhm) ; 
or:  Who  has  brought  him  (cf.  vs.  15)  to  accomplish  his  pleasure  on 
Babylon  and  to  reveal  his  arm  (  =  might)  upon  the  Chaldaeans? 
(Cheyne). 

15.  It  is  Jehovah  who  has  called,  brought,  and  prospered  him. 
For  he  shall  make,  read  /  have  made. 

16.  The  appeal  to  come  and  hear  seems  superfluous  after  vss.  1 2, 
14.  From  the  beginning,  i.e.  of  the  career  of  Cyrus,  Jehovah, 
through  his  prophet,  has  offered  a  clear  interpretation  of  it  (cf. 
45:  19).  For  there  am  I,  read,  perhaps,  /  have  announced  (i.e. 
new  things,  vs.  6) ;  so  Marti.  His  spirit,  object  not  subject 
(as  AV) ;  the  writer  is  endowed  with  the  (prophetic)  spirit 
(cf.  61:.  i).  This  last  clause,  however,  is  probably  an  insertion; 
nowhere  else  does  Deutero-Isaiah  refer  to  himself. 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


17.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  thy  redeemer, 

The  Holy  One  of  Israel : 

1  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 
Which  teacheth  thee  to  profit, 

Which  leadeth  thee  by  the  way  that  thou  shouldest  go. 

18.  Oh  that  thou  hadst  hearkened  to  my  commandments ! 
Then  had  thy  peace  been  as  a  river, 

And  thy  righteousness  as  the  waves  of  the  sea  : 

19.  Thy  seed  also  had  been  as  the  sand, 

And  the  offspring  of  thy  bowels  Hke  the  ^  grains 
thereof  : 

2  His  name  should  not  be  cut  off 

Nor  destroyed  from  before  me. 

20.  Go  ye  forth  of  Babylon, 

Flee  ye  from  the  Chaldeans  ; 

1  AV  gravel ;  Gr.  dust  of  the  earth.        2  Gr.  thy. 

The  Blessings  of  Obedience  (vss.   17-19) 

These  verses  are  a  sorrowful  retrospect  of  Israel's  disobedient 
career.  Obedience  would  have  meant  prosperity,  population,  a 
great  national  future ;  as  it  is,  extermination  seems  a  more  prob- 
able prospect  for  Israel. 

Several  recent  scholars  believe  these  verses  to  be  a  later  inter- 
polation. They  interrupt  the  fine  connection  between  the  activ- 
ity of  Cyrus  (vss.  12-16)  and  the  departure  of  Israel  from  Babylon 
(vss.  20  f.).  Their  gloomy  mood  is  altogether  alien  to  the  context 
(vs.  20) ;  their  conception  of  religion  as  commandments  (vs.  18)  is 
unlike  DeuteroTsaiah's. 

17  f.  To  profit,  i.e.  for  thy  profit.  Peace,  welfare;  righteous- 
ness, salvation  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense.  They  would  have 
flowed  on  copiously,  steadily,  unimpeded,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea. 

19.  Clearly  Israel  is,  for  the  moment,  in  danger  of  extermination. 

Forth  from,  Babylon!  (vss.  20,  21) 

20.  Cyrus  is  about  to  fulfil  Jehovah's  purpose  on  Babylon  (vs. 
14),  and  Israel  is  summoned  to  leave  with  ringing  shouts  of  joy. 
The  story  of  her  redemption  she  must  then  tell  the  whole  world. 

317 


48:21  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


With  a  voice  of  singing  declare  ye, 

Tell  this, 
Utter  it 

Even  to  the  end  of  the  earth  : 
Say  ye,  "The  Lord  hath  redeemed 

His  servant  Jacob." 

21.  And  they  thirsted  not 

When  he  led  them  through  the  deserts  : 
He  caused  the  waters  to  flow 

Out  of  the  rock  for  them  : 
He  clave  the  rock  also, 

And  the  waters  gushed  out. 

22.  There  is  no  peace,  saith  the  Lord,  unto  the  wicked. 

21.  The  exodus  from  Babylon  will  repeat  the  ancient  wonders 
of  the  exodus  from  Egypt  (Exod.  17:6). 

This  ringing  summons  to  leave  Babylon  (20  f.)  appropriately 
brings  the  first  part  of  the  prophecy  to  a  close.  Vs.  22,  which  is 
irrelevant  here,  was  added  from  57  :  21  to  mark  an  important  divi- 
sion in  the  prophecy. 


318 


PART  II.    THE  RESTORATION  OF  ISRAEL  AND  THE 
FUTURE   GLORY  OF  ZION   (Chaps.   49-55) 

The  Servant  discouraged  but  at  last  Triumphant 

(49  •  1-13) 
The  Servant:  His  Seeming  Failure  and  his  Great  Destiny 

(49  •  1-6) 

49.  Listen,  O  isles,  unto  me  ; 

And  hearken,  ye  peoples,  from  far  : 

Chaps.  49-55.  With  Chap.  49  we  enter  upon  a  new  and  appar- 
ently somewhat  later  phase  of  this  great  prophecy.  The  theme  is 
still,  as  before  (40:  i),  the  consolation  of  Israel,  but  here  atten- 
tion is  more  severely  concentrated  upon  Israel  herself,  and  upon 
Zion,  her  capital  city.  The  way  has  been  prepared  for  this  con- 
centration by  the  arguments  which,  in  Chaps.  40-48,  were  ad- 
vanced with  such  frequency  and  power  —  the  omnipotence  of 
Israel's  God,  the  impotence  of  the  heathen  gods  whose  people  had 
thwarted  his  purpose,  the  victorious  career  of  Cyrus  which  must 
issue  in  the  overthrow  of  Babylon ;  and  now  that  the  way  to  Is- 
rael's poHtical  emancipation  has  been  made  plain,  the  prophet 
reassures  her  of  the  love  of  her  God,  and  in  beautiful  language 
describes  the  glory  to  which  she  and  Zion  will  soon  be  lifted  from 
out  the  suffering  and  sorrow  of  the  present. 

49 :  1-13.  Israel  has  a  prophetic  mission  to  the  world,  but  the 
exile  has  smitten  her  with  a  sense  of  defeat.  Her  great  mission, 
however,  will  yet  be  triumphantly  accomplished  (49:  1-6),  and 
vss.  7-13  picture  the  restoration,  when  from  the  ends  of  the  earth 
her  children  shall  return,  and  her  ruined  places  will  be  built  again. 

49  :  1-6.  This  is  the  second  of  the  Servant  songs  (cf.  42  :  1-4). 
It  is  represented  as  uttered  by  the  servant  himself,  and  it  strikes 
a  very  definite  and  personal  note.  The  servant,  with  his  sense  of 
a  divine  call,  equipment,  and  protection,  sees  through  his  tempo- 
rary defeat  to  the  ultimate  glory  which  his  God  will  enable  him 
to  achieve.  The  servant  is  Israel,  languishing  in  exile;  his 
destiny  is  to  bless  the  world,  to  be  "  a  light  to  the  Gentiles." 

I.  Isles:    the  message  (of  salvation)  concerns  the  whole  world 

319 


4912  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Gal.  I :  IS  The  Lord  hath  called  me  from  the  womb  ; 

From  the  bowels  of  my  mother  hath  he  made  men- 
tion of  my  name. 

2.  And  he  hath  made  my  mouth  like  a  sharp  sword, 

In  the  shadow  of  his  hand  hath  he  hid  me  ; 
And  he  hath  made  me  a  polished  shaft, 
In  his  quiver  hath  he  kept  me  close  : 

3.  And  he  said  unto  me,  ''Thou  art  my  servant ; 

Israel,  in  whom  I  will  be  glorified." 

4.  But  I  said,  "I  have  laboured  in  vain, 

I  have  spent  my  strength  for  nought  and  vanity. 

Yet  surely  my  judgement  is  with  the  Lord, 
And  my  recompence  with  my  God." 

5.  And  now  ^  saith  the  Lord 

That  formed  me  from  the  womb  to  be  his  servant, 

1  Gr.  Syr.  thus  saith. 

(vs.  6).  Israel  was  divinely  called  from  its  birth,  like  Jeremiah 
(i :  5).  My  name  as  the  Servant  of  Jehovah,  divinely  appointed 
to  do  a  mighty  work  for  the  world. 

2.  The  mouth  is  specially  mentioned,  because  Israel  is  the 
prophet  nation.  She  is  Jehovah's  weapon  in  his  contest  with  the 
false  gods  ;  through  her  victory  is  won  for  the  true  religion  through- 
out the  world  (vs.  6)  :  therefore  he  hid,  preserved,  protected  her 
carefully,  as  a  warrior  his  sword  or  his  arrow,  till  the  decisive 
moment. 

3.  Will  be  glorified,  will  get  me  glory. 

4.  Notice  the  contrast  between  what  He  said  (vs.  3)  and  what  / 
said  (vs.  4)  —  between  high  destiny  and  deep  despondency.  Yet 
Israel  triumphs  over  her  despondency,  through  the  faith  that  her 
God  will  defend  her  cause,  her  right  (rather  than  judgment). 

5  f.  Again  the  high  sense  of  destiny.  Not  only  will  Israel's 
work  not  be  fruitless  (vs.  4),  it  will  be  glorious.  These  verses 
seem  to  lend  strong  support  to  the  view  that  the  Servant  in  the 
songs  is  an  individual,  whose  duty  is  first  to  restore  his  people 

320 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  49:7 


To  bring  Jacob  again  to  him, 

1  And  that  Israel  be  gathered  unto  him  : 
(For  I  am  honourable  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord, 

And  my  God  is  become  my  strength  :) 

6.  Yea,  he  saith,  -"It  is  too  Hght  a  thing    that   thou 

shouldest  be  my  servant  to  raise  up  the  tribes 

of  Jacob, 
And  to  restore  the  ^  preserved  of  Israel : 
I  will  also  give  thee  for  a  Ught  to  the  Gentiles,  Acts  13 :  47 

4  That  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  end 

of  the  earth." 

IsraeVs  Happy  Return-  and  Restoration  (49 :  7-13) 

7.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 

The  redeemer  of  Israel,  ^  and  his  Holy  One, 

1  AVand  Heb.  variant,  though  Israel  he  not  gathered,  yet  shall  I  be  glorious,  etc.  ;  Gr. 
to  gather  Jacob  to  him  and  Israel :  I  shall  be  gathered  and  glorified  before  the  Lord.  2  Gr.  it 
is  a  great  thing  for  thee  to  be  called  my  servant.  ^  Gr.  dispersed.  *  m.  that  my  salvation 
may  be.    ^  Gr.  sanctify  him  who  despises  his  life. 

Israel,  and  then  to  carry  the  light  of  salvation  to  the  world.  But 
vs.  6,  if  we  omit  the  words  that  thou  shouldest  he  my  servant  (which 
are  very  awkward,  and  probably  not  original  in  the  Hebrew), 
impHes  that  the  task  of  restoring  Israel  is  Jehovah's  task  —  too 
light  for  him;  and  similarly  in  vs.  5,  the  bringing  back  of  Jacob 
and  the  gathering  of  Israel  can  be  referred,  in  point  of  grammar, 
as  well  to  Jehovah  as  to  the  Servant ;  and  the  context,  as  well  as 
the  general  tone  of  the  songs,  decides  in  favor  of  Jehovah.  It  is 
he,  not  the  Servant,  who  brings  back  Jacob.  When  Israel,  pre- 
served from  destruction  (or  scattered,  so  Gr.),  has  been  restored  by 
Jehovah,  then  she,  the  Servant,  will  turn  to  the  wider  world  to  be 
a  light  to  the  Gentiles  (cf.  42:1,  4),ihat  my  salvation  may  be  unto  the 
end  of  the  earth  (so  margin).  Jehovah's  salvation  is  for  all  man- 
kind (45  :  22  f.),  not  for  Israel  only ;  she  is  the  means  to  the  larger 
end. 

49:  7-13.  The  thought  of  Israel's  return,  touched  on  in  vs.  5, 
is  here  elaborated  in  glowing  language;    the  larger  mission  of 
Israel,  with  which  the  previous  song  closed  (vs.  6),  is  here  touched, 
but  briefly,  in  the  opening  verse  (7). 
y  321 


49:8  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


To  him  whom  man  despiseth,  to  him  whom  the  ^  nation 
abhorreth, 
To  a  servant  of  rulers  : 

Kings  shall  see  and  arise  ; 

Princes,  and  they  shall  worship  ; 
Because  of  the  Lord  that  is  faithful, 

Even  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  who  hath  chosen  thee. 

8.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 

2 Cor.  6:2  In  an  acceptable  time  have  I  answered  thee, 

And  in  a  day  of  salvation  have  I  helped  thee  : 
And  I  will  preserve  thee,  and  give  thee 
For  a  covenant  of  the  ^  people, 

To  raise  up  the  land. 

To  make  them  inherit  the  desolate  heritages  ; 

9.  Saying  to  them  that  are  bound,  "  Go  forth"  ; 

To  them  that  are  in  darkness,  "Shew  yourselves." 

They  shall  feed  in  ^  the  ways. 

And  on  all  bare  heights  shall  be  their  pasture. 

1  Gr.  nations.        *  Gr.  all. 

7.  Humiliation  is  followed  by  exaltation.  Now  Israel  is  de- 
spised of  men,  abhorred  of  people,  servant  of  tyrants;  but  the  great 
ones  of  the  earth,  when  they  see  her  wonderful  restoration,  will 
rise  up  in  homage,  and  prostrate  themselves  (rather  than  worship) 
in  reverence. 

8,  9a.  In  an  acceptable  time,  in  a  time  of  favor,  i.e.  now.  I 
have  answered,  have  helped  ;  it  is  already  as  good  as  accomplished 
(hence  pf.  tense).  Covenant,  etc. :  cf.  42  :  6.  To  raise  up,  etc. : 
read  raising  up  the  (ruined)  land  {i.e.  Judah),  allotting  the  desolate 
heritages,  saying  to  the  prisoners,  etc.  The  prisoners  and  those 
in  darkness  are  the  exiles. 

gb-ii.  These  verses  describe  the  homeward  way,  on  which 
Israel  would  enjoy  abundance  and  suffer  no  privation.  Read 
in  all  the  ways  (so  Gr.) ;  everywhere  they  went  they  would  find 
pasture  and  water.     In  vs.  11,  omit  my. 

322 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  49 :  14 


10.  They  shall  not  hunger  nor  thirst ;  Rev.  7: 16  f. 

Neither  shall  the  ^  heat  nor  sun  smite  them. 

For  he  that  hath  mercy  on  them  shall  lead  them, 
Even  by  the  springs  of  water  shall  he  guide  them. 

11.  And  I  will  make  ^  all  my  mountains  a  way, 

And  my  high  ways  shall  be  exalted. 

12.  Lo,  these  shall  come  from  far  ; 

And,  lo,  these  from  the  north  and  from  the  west ; 
And  these  from  the  land  of  ^  Sinim, 

13.  Sing,  O  heavens  ;   and  be  joyful,  O  earth  ; 

And  break  forth  into  singing,  O  mountains  : 
For  the  Lord  hath  comforted  his  people, 
And  will  have  compassion  upon  his  afHicted. 

The  Consolation  of  Zion  (49  :  14-50  :  3) 

Wasted  Zion  will  be  rebuilt  and  filled  again  with  People 
(49:  14-21) 

14.  But  Zion  said,  "Jehovah  hath  forsaken  me. 

And  the  Lord  hath  forgotten  me." 

1  m.  mirage  (cf.  35 ;  7).  ^  Gr.  every  mountain  a  way  and  every  path  a  pasture  to  them. 
3  Gr.  iJte  Persians. 

12.  These  shall  come  from  the  various  centres  of  the  Jewish 
dispersion.  Skdm,  once  thought  to  be  China,  is  probably  Syene 
(Assouan)  in  the  south  of  Egypt,  where  we  now  know  there  was  a 
Jewish  colony  (cf.  Ezek.  29:  10;   30:  6,  Seveneh). 

13.  The  vision  of  the  glad  return  leads  the  prophet  to  break 
into  a  song  of  joy  (cf.  44  :  23). 

49 :  14-50 :  3.  The  people  find  it  hard  to  believe  the  glowing 
promises  of  their  return  and  restoration,  and  the  prophet  again 
assures  them  of  Jehovah's  tender  love  and  irresistible  power. 

14  f .  The  broken-hearted  and  sceptical  people  receive  the  assur- 

323 


49:15  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


15.  Can  a  woman  forget  her  sucking  child, 

That  she  should  not  have  compassion  on  the  son 
of  her  womb  ? 
Yea,  1  these  may  forget. 
Yet  will  not  I  forget  thee. 

16.  Behold,  I  have  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of  my 

hands; 
Thy  walls  are  continually  before  me. 

17.  Thy  2  children  make  haste;  thy  destroyers  and  they 

that  made  thee  waste 
Shall  go  forth  of  thee. 

18.  Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about,  and  behold : 

All  these  gather  themselves  together, 
And  come  to  thee.     As  I  live, 

Saith  the  Lord, 
Thou  shalt  surely  clothe  thee  with  them  all  as  with 
an  ornament, 

And  gird  thyself  with  them,  like  a  bride. 

19.  For,  as  for  thy  waste  and  thy  desolate  places 

And  thy  land  that  hath  been  destroyed, 
Surely  now  shalt  thou  be  too  strait  for  the  inhabitants, 
And  they  that  swallowed  thee  up  shall  be  far  away. 

1  Gr.  though  a  woman  should  forget  these.        2  Q^.  Vg.  Tar.  builders. 

ance  that  God  is  love.  He  can  no  more  forget  them  than  a  mother 
her  infant  child. 

16  f.  Graven,  so  as  not  to  forget.  The  plan  of  the  walls  of  the 
restored  city  is  continually  in  his  mind;  and  speedily  it  will  be 
executed  by  the  builders  (rather  than  sons,  vs.  17).  The  triumph 
of  the  builders  is  vividly  contrasted  with  the  departure  of  the 
destroyers. 

18.  A  fine  picture  of  the  exiles  flocking  back  to  Zion,  adorning 
her  as  jewels  adorn  a  bride. 

19  f.  The  sense  is  correct,  but  something  has  clearly  been  lost 
after  the  word  destroyed  (vs.  19).  Now  Jerusalem  is  too  small  for 
the  inhabitants.     The  children  of  thy  bereavement  are  those 

324 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  49:22 


20.  The  children  of  thy  bereavement 

Shall  yet  say  in  thine  ears, 
The  place  is  too  strait  for  me  ; 

Give  place  to  me  that  I  may  dwell. 

21.  Then  shalt  thou  say  in  thine  heart, 

Who  hath  ^  begotten  me  these, 
Seeing  I  have  been  bereaved  of  my  children,  and  am 
2  solitary, 

^  An  exile,  and  wandering  to  and  fro  ? 

And  who  hath  brought  up  these  ? 
Behold,  I  was  left  alone  ; 

These,  where  were  they  ?  • 

Three  Words  of  Consolation  (49  :  22-50  :  3) 

22.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God, 

Behold,  I  will  Hft  up  mine  hand  to  the  nations, 

And  set  up  my  ensign  to  the  peoples  : 
And  they  shall  bring  thy  sons  in  their  bosom, 

And   thy   daughters    shall    be    carried   upon   their 
shoulders. 

1  m.  borne.         2  jq.  barren.         ^  Gr.  om.  this  line. 

born  in  exile,  and  who  are  now  flocking  back  to  Jerusalem,  their 
true  mother  city. 

21.  Zion  is  beautifully  represented  as  astonished  at  the  multi- 
tude of  her  children.  She  cannot  understand  who  has  borne 
(not  begotten)  them,  since  she  herself  (in  exile)  is  bereaved  and 
barren.  The  city  is  the  mother  of  her  people,  and  the  children 
born  in  Babylon  are  hers  (cf.  Ps.  87:4),  as  Hagar's  child  was 
Sarah's  (Gen.  16:  2).  Delete  an  exile  and  wandering  to  and  fro 
(not  in  Gr.),  and  for  these,  where  were  they?  read  and  these  — 
who  then  are  they? 

At  a  Signal  from  Jehovah,  the  Nations  bring  Israel  back  to  Zion 
(49:  22  f.) 

22  f.  The  signal  is  the  raised  hand  or  banner.  Bosom,  etc. :  of 
course  figurative.     The  people  will  be  brought  back  as  tenderly 

325 


49:23  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


23.  And  kings  shall  be  thy  nursing  fathers, 

And  their  queens  thy  nursing  mothers : 
They  shall  bow  down  to  thee  with  their  faces  to  the 
earth, 
And  Hck  the  dust  of  thy  feet ; 

And  thou  shalt  know  that  I  am  the  Lord, 

And  they  that  wait  for  me  shall  not  be  ashamed. 

24.  Shall  the  prey  be  taken  from  the  mighty. 

Or  the  ^  lawful  captives  be  deUvered  ? 

25.  But  thus  saith  the  Lord, 

Even  the  captives  of  the  mighty  shall  be  taken  away, 

And  the  prey  of  the  terrible  shall  be  dehvered  : 
For  I  will  ^  contend  with  him  that  contendeth  with  thee, 
And  I  will  save  thy  children. 

26.  And  I  will  feed  them  that  oppress  thee  with  their  own 

flesh ; 
And  they  shall  be  drunken  with  their  own  blood,  as 
with  sweet  wine : 

iHeb.  captives  of  the  just;  Syr.  Vg.  captives  of  the  terrible  (or  tyrant,  cf.  vs.  25). 
a  Gr.  plead  thy  cause. 

as  one  carries  a  little  child  (Num.  11:12).  The  ungenerous 
attitude  to  the  heathen  in  the  first  half  of  vs.  23  is  unlike  our 
prophet  (cf.  45  :  23)  and  more  in  the  spirit  of  later  Judaism  (cf. 
61:5). 

Jehovah  is  Omnipotent  (49 :  24-26) 

Jehovah  is  Omnipotence  as  well  as  Love  (vs.  15),  and  the  de- 
liverance which  he  effects  for  his  people  no  power  on  earth  can 
cancel. 

24  f .  For  the  lawful  captives,  read  the  captives  of  a  tyrant;  for 
the  terrible,  a  tyrant;  for  for  I  will  contend  .  .  .  liiee,  read  but  I 
will  plead  thy  cause  (so  Gr.).  Israel,  once  saved  from  Babylon 
by  the  mighty  hand  of  Jehovah,  can  never  be  torn  from  him  again. 
The  question  and  answer  recall  vs.  15. 

26.  The  enemies  of  Israel  will  die  by  each  other's  hands. 
326 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  50:2 


And  all  flesh  shall  know 
That  I  the  Lord  am  thy  saviour, 
And  thy  redeemer,  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob. 

50.      Thus  saith  the  Lord, 

Where  is  the  bill  of  your  mother's  divorcement, 
Wherewith  I  have  put  her  away  ? 

Or  which  of  my  creditors  is  it 

To  whom  I  have  sold  you  ? 
Behold,  for  your  iniquities  were  ye  sold, 

And  for  your  transgressions  was  your  mother  put 
away. 

2.  Wherefore,  when  I  came,  was  there  no  man? 
When  I  called,  was  there  none  to  answer  ? 
Is  my  hand  shortened  at  all,  that  it  cannot  redeem  ? 
Or  have  I  no  power  to  dehver  ? 

Behold,  at  my  rebuke  I  dry  up  the  sea, 
I  make  the  rivers  a  wilderness  : 

Jehovah's  Love  and  Power  (50 :  1-3) 

The  people  might  well  suppose  that  the  covenant  relationship 
between  Jehovah  and  Zion  had  been  dissolved.  But  not  so; 
he  has  neither  divorced  her  nor  sold  her  children. 

I.  Your  mother  is  Zion,  Jehovah  is  her  husband;  but  there  is 
no  bill  of  divorcement  to  show  {where?  =  nowhere)  —  clearly  he 
has  not  permanently  put  her  away  (cf.  Deut.  24:  i).  Children 
could  be  sold  for  the  debt  of  their  parents  (2  Kings  4:  i),  but 
Jehovah,  as  he  could  not  be  in  need,  could  not  possibly  have  any 
creditors  to  whom  his  children  (Israel)  might  be  sold.  It  is  their 
sin  that  has  created  the  temporary  separation  between  them  and 
their  God. 

2  f .  To  the  prophet's  message  that  Jehovah  himself  was  commg 
and  calling  to  them  through  the  new  political  situation,  the  people 
had  offered  no  eager  response.  Surely  they  did  not  doubt  the 
divine  power;    for  in  creation  (or  some  think  at  the  Exodus) 

327 


50:3 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Their  fish  ^  stinketh,  because  there  is  no  water, 
And  dieth  for  thirst. 

3.  I  clothe  the  heavens  with  blackness, 

And  I  make  sackcloth  their  covering. 

The  Servant  Tried  but  Trusting  (50:4-11) 

4.  The  Lord  God  hath  given  me 

The  tongue  of  ^  them  that  are  taught. 
That  I  should  know  ^  how  to  sustain  with  words 
Him  that  is  weary. 

He  wakeneth  morning  by  morning,  he  wakeneth  mine 
ear 
To  hear  as  ^  they  that  are  taught. 

5.  The  Lord  God  hath  opened  mine  ear, 

1  Gr.  dry  up.    2  m.  disciples.    3  m.  how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to  him,  etc. ;  Gr. 
when  it  is  necessary  to  speak  a  word. 

Jehovah  had  shown  himself  master  of  the  forces  of  nature.  Read 
their  fish  dry  up  (so  Gr.)  for  lack  of  water,  and  their  monsters  on  the 
thirsty  land. 

50:4-11.  This  (vss.  4-9)  is  the  third  of  the  Servant  songs, 
and  constitutes  a  Hnk  between  the  second  (49  :  1-6)  and  the  fourth 
(52  :  13-53  :  12),  elaborating  the  idea  of  the  servant's  suffering  in 
49 :  4,  and  preparing  the  way  for  the  large  interpretation  of  that 
suffering  in  Chap.  53.  Here  again,  the  servant  is  the  nation  in  its 
ideal  capacity. 

4  f.  Jehovah  has  given  me  a  disciple's  tongue.  As  in  49 :  2 
{mouth)  the  nation  is  a  prophet,  teaching  others  because  taught  of 
Jehovah  —  his  disciple.  The  clause  that  follows  describes  more 
narrowly  the  nature  of  his  task.  The  word  rendered  sustain  is 
obscure ;  perhaps  to  answer,  to  feed,  or  to  revive  the  weary  with  a 
word  {of  consolation). 

He  wakeneth :  read  simply  In  the  morning  he  wakens  mine  ear 
to  listen  disciple-like,  and  omit  the  first  clause  of  vs.  5  as  a  belated 
explanation  of  4b.  This  is  a  fine  description  of  the  vigilance  and 
responsiveness  with  which  the  servant  awaits  the  new  revelation 

328 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  50:9 


And  I  was  not  rebellious, 
Neither  turned  away  backward. 

6.  I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters, 

And  my  cheeks  to  them  that  plucked  off  the  hair  : 
I  hid  not  my  face 

From  shame  and  spitting. 

7.  For  the  Lord  God  will  help  me  ; 

Therefore  have  I  not  been  confounded  : 
Therefore  have  I  set  my  face  like  a  flint, 
And  I  know  that  I  shall  not  be  ashamed. 

8.  He  is  near  that  justifieth  me  ;  who  will  contend  with  Rom.  8 ; 

me?  '''• 

Let  us  stand  up  together  : 
Who  is  mine  adversary  ? 
Let  him  come  near  to  me. 

9.  Behold,  the  Lord  God  will  help  me  ; 

Who  is  he  that  shall  condemn  me  ? 
Behold,  they  all  shall  wax  old  as  a  garment ; 
The  moth  shall  eat  them  up. 


which  each  new  day  brings.  There  is  nothing  starthng  or  mys- 
terious in  it ;  but  enjoying  unbroken  intercourse  with  his  God, 
the  disciple's  ears  are  sharp  and  sensitive  to  the  teaching  which  the 
divine  Master  sends  through  the  common  experiences  of  every  day, 
and,  stern  as  they  sometimes  were,  he  was  not  rebellious. 

6.  His  fidelity  brought  him  suffering  and  indignities  manifold. 
The  smiters  are  the  heathen,  as  in  Ps.  129  :  3. 

7-9.  The  secret  of  the  Servant's  unflinching  endurance  is  the 
confident  assurance  that  Jehovah  will  help  him,  justify  him,  i.e. 
vindicate  him  by  delivering  him  (46:13;  51:5)  —  and  that 
speedily.  The  adversary  is  the  heathen;  all  they  who  oppose 
Israel  and  her  God  are  doomed  to  annihilation. 

329 


5o:io  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


10.  Who  is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord, 

^  That  obeyeth  the  voice  of  his  servant  ? 
2  He  that  walketh  in  darkness, 

And  hath  no  Hght, 
Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 

And  stay  upon  his  God. 

11.  Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire. 

That  ^  gird  yourselves  about  with  firebrands  : 
Walk  ye  in  the  flame  of  your  fire, 

And  among  the  brands  that  ye  have  kindled. 
This  shall  ye  have  of  mine  hand  : 

Ye  shall  Ue  down  in  sorrow. 

Words  or  Encoxjragement  and  Promise  (51 : 1-52  :  12) 

Deliverance  is  Near  and  Sure  (51  :  1-16) 

51.  Hearken  to  me,  ye  that  follow  after  righteousness, 
Ye  that  seek  the  Lord  : 

1  Gr.  let  him  obey.        2  m.  though  he  walketh.        ^  Syr.  set  brands  alight. 

Exhortation  (vss.   10,  11) 

In  these  verses,  a  later  writer  applies  the  preceding  passage 
(vss.  4-9)  to  the  situation  of  his  own  time,  using  it  as  a  basis  of 
encouragement  to  the  faithful  and  of  warning  to  the  godless. 

For  that  obeyeth,  read,  with  the  Greek  version,  let  him  obey. 
The  faithful  who  fear  Jehovah  are  urged  to  imitate  the  Servant's 
confidence  in  God  (vss.  7,  8),  while  those  who  kindle  a  fire  and  set 
arrows  aflame  (as  we  should  probably  read),  i.e.  those  who  assail 
the  faithful  with  cruelty  and  cunning,  are  urged  to  begone  into  the 
flame  of  your  flre.  The  divine  penalty  is  that  they  shall  lie  down 
in  torment  —  the  torment  of  hell-fire,  Gehenna  (66 :  23  f.). 

51:  1-52:  12.  This  is  one  of  the  most  effective  and  beautiful 
sections  in  the  whole  prophecy.  The  consolation,  interrupted  by 
the  Servant's  song  (50 :  4  ff.),  is  here  resumed,  and  urged  in  a  series 
of  brilliant  and  powerful  appeals. 

51 :  1-16.  The  prophet  meets  Israel's  doubts  and  fears  by  re- 

330 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


51:4 


Look  unto  the  rock  whence  ye  were  hewn, 
And  to  the  hole  of  the  pit  whence  ye  were  digged. 

2.  Look  unto  Abraham  your  father, 

And  unto  Sarah  that  bare  you  : 
For  when  he  was  but  one  I  called  him, 
And  I  blessed  him,  and  ^  made  him  many. 

3.  For  the  Lord  hath  comforted  Zion  : 

He  hath  comforted  all  her  waste  places, 
And  hath  made  her  wilderness  like  Eden, 

And  her  desert  hke  the  garden  of  the  Lord  ; 
Joy  and  gladness  shall  be  found  therein. 

Thanksgiving,  and  the  voice  of  melody. 

4.  Attend  unto  me,  -  O  my  people  ; 

And  give  ear  unto  me,  ^  O  my  nation  ; 
For  a  law  shall  go  forth  from  me, 
And  ^I  will  make  my  judgement  to  rest  for  a  hght 
of  the  peoples. 

I  Gr.  loved  him.  «  Some  Heb.  MSS.  Syr.  ye  peoples.  3  Some  Heb.  MSS.  Syr.  ye 
tuitions;  Gx.  ye  kings.    *  Gr.  and  my  judgement  shaW.  he  for  a  light,  etc. 

calling  what  Jehovah  had  already  done  in  the  past  (vss.  1-3), 
and  by  reminding  her  that  the  religion  which  she  represents  before 
the  world  is  destined  to  be  universal  (4  f.)  and  everlasting  (6-8). 

1-3.  Righteousness,  =  practically  =  vindication,  deliverance. 
For  pit,  read  quarry,  and  omit  the  hole  of.  Israel  is  asked  to 
consider  its  slender  origin ;  it  began  in  a  single  family  —  Abra- 
ham and  Sarah.  But  as  they  viltimately  became  numerous,  so 
will  also  the  present  Israel,  unpromising  though  the  outlook  may 
be.  The  fertility,  beauty,  and  gladness  in  store  for  Zion  are  de- 
scribed in  vs.  3, 

4  f .  Israel's  (law,  judgment  =  )  rehgion  is  destined  to  be  the  re- 
ligion of  the  whole  world  (cf.  42  :  1-4)  —  another  source  of  inspira- 
tion and  consolation.  I  will  make  to  rest  should  go  with  the  next 
verse,  and  be  translated  "  I  will  act  in  a  twinkling."  Read  atid 
my  judgment  ( =  religion)  for  a  light  of  the  peoples.     Suddenly  will  I 

331 


51 : 5 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


5.  My  righteousness  ^  is  near, 

My  salvation  is  gone  forth, 
And  mine  arms  shall  judge  the  peoples  ; 
The  isles  shall  wait  for  me. 
And  on  mine  arm  shall  they  trust. 

6.  Lift  up  your  eyes  to  the  heavens. 

And  look  upon  the  earth  beneath  ; 
For  the  heavens  shall  vanish  away  like  smoke. 
And  the  earth  shall  wax  old  Uke  a  garment. 

And  they  that  dwell  therein 

Shall  die  ^  in  Hke  manner  : 
But  my  salvation  shall  be  for  ever. 

And  my  righteousness  shall  not  ^  be  abohshed. 

7.  Hearken  unto  me,  ye  that  know  righteousness, 

The  people  in  whose  heart  is  my  law  ; 
Fear  ye  not  the  reproach  of  men. 

Neither  be  ye  dismayed  at  their  revilings. 

8.  For  ^  the  moth  shall  eat  them  up  Hke  a  garment. 

And  the  worm  shall  eat  them  like  wool : 
But  my  righteousness  shall  be  for  ever. 
And  my  salvation  unto  all  generations. 

1  Gr.  draweih  quickly  near.    2  m.  perhaps  like  gnats.    '  Gr.  Vg.  fail.    *  Gr.  time. 

bring  my  righteousness  (=  deliverance,  as  in  vs.  i)  near.  Omit  the 
last  clause  of  vs.  5. 

6.  The  things  that  are  seen  are  temporary,  but  the  unseen  things 
(in  particular  the  sah^ation  which  religion  brings)  are  eternal 
(2  Cor.  4:18)  —  "the  greatest  and  loftiest  thought  conceived 
before  Christianity  "  (Duhm).  For  in  like  manner,  read,  with 
margin,  like  gnats.     Righteousness  =  salvation  (cf.  vss.  i,  5). 

7  f.  This  hope  of  everlasting  salvation  (vs.  6)  should  inspire 
Israel  to  bear  with  patience  the  reproach  of  frail  mortal  men. 

332 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  51:  12 


9.  Awake,  awake,  ^  put  on  strength, 
O  arm  of  the  Lord  ; 
Awake,  as  in  the  days  of  old. 
The  generations  of  ancient  times. 

^  Art  thou  not  it  that  cut  Rahab  in  pieces. 
That  pierced  the  dragon  ? 

10.  Art  thou  not  it  which  dried  up  the  sea, 

The  waters  of  the  great  deep  ; 
That  made  the  depths  of  the  sea  a  way 
For  the  redeemed  to  pass  over  ? 

11.  And  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return,  isa.  35: 10 

And  come  with  singing  unto  Zion  ; 
And  everlasting  joy  shall  be  upon  their  heads  : 
They  shall  obtain  gladness  and  joy. 
And  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away. 

12.  I,  even  I,  am  he  that  comforteth  you  : 

Who  art  thou,  that  thou  art  afraid 
Of  man  that  shall  die,  and  of  the  son  of  man 
Which  shall  be  made  as  grass  ; 

^  Gr.  0  Jerusalem,  and  put  on  the  strength  of  thine  arm.  ^  Gr.  om.  from  art  thou  to 
dragon. 

Appeal  to  Jehovah  to  show  his  Ancient  Power  (vss.  9-1 1) 

9-1 1.  The  days  of  old  are  the  days  of  creation,  and  the  allusion 
is  to  the  mythical  conflict  between  Jehovah  and  the  dragon  (or 
Rahab),  personification  of  the  great  deep,  the  chaotic  sea  —  a  con- 
flict which  was  supposed  to  have  preceded  creation.  The  mention 
of  the  drying  up  of  the  sea  leads  in  vs.  lob  to  the  thought  of  the 
passage  of  the  Red  Sea;  and  the  mention  of  the  redeemed  has 
further  led  to  the  insertion  of  35  :  10,  which  is  here  irrelevant. 
The  verses  appeal  to  Jehovah  to  assert  his  power  in  history,  and 
to  create  out  of  the  existing  confusion  a  moral  order  like  the  physi- 
cal order  he  created  at  the  beginning  by  the  destruction  of  chaos. 

333 


51 :  13  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


13.  And  hast  forgotten  the  Lord  thy  Maker,  that  stretched 

forth  the  heavens, 
And  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth  ; 
And  fearest  continually  all  the  day 

Because  of  the  fury  of  the  oppressor, 
1  When  he  maketh  ready  to  destroy  ? 

And  where  is  the  fury  of  the  oppressor  ? 

14.  2  The  captive  exile  shall  speedily  be  loosed  ; 

And  he  shall  not  die  and  go  down  into  the  pit, 
Neither  shall  his  bread  fail. 

15.  For  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 

Which  stirreth  up  the  sea,  that  the  waves  thereof  roar  : 
The  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name. 

16.  And  I  have  put  my  words  in  thy  mouth, 

And  have  covered  thee  in  the  shadow  of  mine  hand, 
That  I  may  ^  plant  the  heavens,  and  lay  the  foundations 

of  the  earth, 
And  say  unto  Zion,  "Thou  art  my  people." 


1  m.  as  though  he  made  ready  (or  aimed).    2  m.  he  tliat  is  bent  down.     For  vs.  14, 
Gr.  reads  only  in  thy  deliverance  he  shall  not  stand  still  nor  tarry.     3  Syr.  stretch  forth. 


Jehovah  is  Omnipotent:  let  Israel  he  Comforted  and  not  he  Afraid 
(vss.   12-16) 

This  section  almost  looks  like  an  answer  to  the  preceding  prayer, 
though  possibly  of  independent  origin.  The  old  emphasis  upon 
Jehovah's  power  as  shown  in  creation  (Chap.  40)  is  again  used  to 
put  heart  into  timid  and  disconsolate  Israel. 

13.  Israel  has  forgotten  the  infinite  power  of  her  God.  He  v/ho 
made  her  made  the  heavens.  The  oppressor,  Babylon.  Where  ? 
=  nowhere. 

14.  Israel  is  here  compared  to  a  famished  prisoner  in  a  dungeon 
(cf.  Jer.  38),  but  probably  we  have  not  the  original  text,  as  the 
Greek  version  is  quite  different  and  shorter. 

15  f.  The  authenticity  of  these  verses  is  doubted,  as  they  are 
little  more  than  a  compilation  of  other  passages  (Jer.  31 :  35 ;  Is. 

334 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  51 :  19 


Jerusalem's  Affliction:  her  Speedy  Redemption  and  Glory 
(51  :  17-52  :  12) 

17.  Awake,  awake, 

Stand  up,  0  Jerusalem, 
Which  hast  drunk  at  the  hand  of  the  Lord  Rev.  14 :  10 

The  cup  of  his  fury. 
Thou  hast  drunken  the  bowl  of  the  cup  of  staggering. 

And  drained  it. 

18.  There  is  none  to  guide  her 

Among  all  the  sons  whom  she  hath  brought  forth ; 
Neither  is  there  any  that  taketh  her  by  the  hand 
Of  all  the  sons  that  she  hath  brought  up. 

19.  These  two  things  are  befallen  thee  ; 

Who  shall  bemoan  thee  ? 
Desolation  and  destruction,  and  the  famine  and  the 
sword ; 
^  How  shall  I  comfort  thee  ? 

1  Gr.  Syr.  Vg.  Tar.  who  shall. 

59  :  21 ;  49  :  2).  They  assert  Jehovah's  power,  also  his  equipment 
and  protection  of  Israel,  which  had  for  its  ultimate  object  the 
creation  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  Or  Marti  may  be  right 
in  supposing  the  meaning  to  be  that  Jehovah  had  appointed 
Israel  to  her  high  destiny  already  at  creation  {when  he  stretched 
out  the  heavens,  etc.). 

51:17-52:12.  Jerusalem,  compared  to  a  prostrate,  helpless 
woman,  is  bidden  to  arise  and  put  on  her  festal  robes,  for  the  great 
salvation  is  very  near ;  already  the  watchmen  see  the  messengers 
of  it  upon  the  mountains.     Therefore  away,  away  from  Babylon. 

The  Humiliation  of  Jerusalem  (51 :  17-20) 

17  f.  Jerusalem  has  drunk  to  the  dregs  the  cup  of  the  divine 
indignation,  she  lies  senseless ;  therefore  bestir  thee.  Omit  of  the 
cup.  Vs.  18,  which  speaks  of  Jerusalem  in  the  third  person,  is 
probably  a  later,  insertion. 

19.  Two  things,  or  pairs  of  things  —  "  Wreck  and  Ruin,  Want 

335 


5i:20  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


20.  Thy  sons  have  fainted,  they  he  at  the  top  of  all  the 

streets, 
As  an  antelope  in  a  net ; 
They  are  full  of  the  fury  of  the  Lord, 
The  rebuke  of  thy  God. 

21.  Therefore  hear  now  this,  thou  afflicted, 

And  drunken,  but  not  with  wine  : 

22.  Thus  saith  thy  Lord  the  Lord, 

And  thy  God  that  pleadeth  the  cause  of  his  people, 
"  Behold,  I  have  taken  out  of  thine  hand 

The  cup  of  staggering. 
Even  the  bowl  of  the  cup  of  my  fury ; 

Thou  shalt  no  more  drink  it  again  : 

23.  And  I  will  put  it  into  the  hand  of  them  that  afflict  thee ;  ^ 
Which  have  said  to  thy  soul, 

'  Bow  down,  that  we  may  go  over ' : 
And  thou  hast  laid  thy  back  as  the  ground. 
And  as  the  street,  to  them  that  go  over." 


52.  Awake,  awake,  put  on 
Thy  strength,  O  Zion 


Gr.  adds  and  of  them  that  humbled  thee. 


and  War  "  (G.  H.  Box  :  alliteration  and  assonance  in  the  Hebrew) 
—  the  former  befalling  the  land,  the  latter  the  people,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  siege  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  For  how  shall  I, 
read  who  can  comfort  thee? 

20.  Omit  at  the  top  of  all  the  streets  (from  Lam.  2  :  19).  As  an 
antelope  in  its  fruitless  effort  to  escape. 

The  Tables  Turned  (51 :  21-23) 

The  cup  of  the  divine  indignation,  which  threw  Jerusalem 
prostrate,  is  to  be  handed  to  Babylon. 

23.  To  thy  soul,  i.e.,  simply  to  thee.  Thy  back  :  the  allusion  is 
to  the  cruel  Oriental  custom  of  riding  over  the  backs  of  conquered 
enemies,  as  they  lie  prostrate  on  the  ground. 

336 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


52:5 


Put  on  ^  thy  beautiful  garments, 

O  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city  ;  Rev.  21 ;  2, 

For  henceforth  there  shall  no  more  come  into  thee        ^l^  ^^ .  ^^ 

The  uncircumcised  and  the  unclean. 

2.  Shake  thyself  from  the  dust ;  arise, 

Sit  thee  down,  O  Jerusalem  : 
^  Loose  thyself  from  the  bands  of  thy  neck, 
O  captive  daughter  of  Zion. 

3.  For  thus  saith  the  Lord,  ye  were  sold  for  nought ;  and 

4.  ye  shall  be  redeemed  without  money.  For  thus  saith 
the  Lord  God,  My  people  went  down  at  the  first  into 
Egypt  to  sojourn  there  :  arid  the  Assyrian  oppressed 
them  ^  without  cause.     Now  therefore,  what  do  I  here, 

5.  saith  the  Lord,  ^  seeing  that  my  people  is  taken  away 
for  nought?  They  that  rule  over  them  do  howl, 
saith  the  Lord,  and  my  name  continually  all  the  day 

1  Gr.  iky  glory.  ^  Heb.  variant,  the  bands  of  thy  neck  are  loosed.  ^  Gr.  with  violence. 
*  Gr.  because  my  people  has  been  taken  for  nought,  (ye)  marvel  and  howl. 

Let  Jerusalem  arise  from  the  Dust  and  put  on  her  Holiday  Attire 
(52:  If.) 

52  :  I  f.  The  prostrate  (51  :  17-23)  Jerusalem  is  to  awake  and 
arise,  just  as  Babylon,  her  adversary,  is  bidden  to  come  down 
(47:1).  The  uncircumcised  and  the  unclean  are  the  Babylo- 
nians. Sit  thee  down,  i.e.,  on  thy  throne;  but  perhaps  we  should 
read,  as  at  the  end  of  the  verse,  O  captive  Jerusalem. 

The  Three  Unjust  Oppressions  of  Israel  (52  :  3-6) 

Several  recent  scholars  believe  this  passage  to  be  a  late  interpo- 
lation. It  does  not  fit  well  into  the  context,  which  deals  with  the 
immediate  future  of  Jerusalem. 

5.  Of  the  three  oppressions,  the  Egyptian,  the  Assyrian  (vs.  4), 
the  Babylonian,  the  last  is  in  some  aspects  the  worst.  What  do  I 
here?  rather  what  have  I  (obtained)  here,  i.e.,  in  Babylonia?  in 
what  way  has  the  Babylonian  captivity  advantaged  Jehovah? 
They  that  rule  over  them,  i.e.,  the  Babylonians,  do  howl,  appar- 

z  337 


52:6  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


6.  is  blasphemed.     Therefore  my  people  shall  know  my 
name:  ^  therefore  they  shall  know  in  that  day  that  I 
am  he  that  doth  speak ;  ^  behold,  it  is  I. 
Rom.  10:15     7.  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains 
Eph.  6 :  15  Aj.g  xhQ  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings, 

That  pubHsheth  peace,  that  bringeth  good   tidings  of 
good, 
That  publisheth  salvation ; 
That  saith  to  Zion, 
"Thy  Godreigneth!" 

8.  The  voice  of  thy  watchmen !  they  Hft  up  the  voice, 

Together  do  they  siijg  ; 
For  they  shall  see,  eye  to  eye. 
When  the  Lord  returneth  to  Zion. 

9.  Break  forth  into  joy,  sing  together. 

Ye  waste  places  of  Jerusalem  : 
For  the  Lord  hath  comforted  his  people. 
He  hath  redeemed  Jerusalem. 


Gr.  Vg.  cm.        2  m,  jigfg  j  Qf^ 


ently  in  exultation;  but  this  meaning  is  very  doubtful,  and  the 
passage  has  been  emended  to  read,  Behold  those  who  waited  for  me 
are  become  a  byword. 

6.  By  some  future  interposition  which  will  corroborate  his 
present  promise,  Jehovah  will  give  his  people  a  convincing  expe- 
rience of  himself,  and  his  name,  which  was  despised  (vs.  5),  will 
come  again  to  its  own. 

Jehovah^s  Return  to  Zion  (52:  7-12) 

A  beautiful  picture  of  Jehovah's  return  to  Zion,  first  heralded  by 
messengers  and  then  witnessed  by  watchmen  from  her  walls  (vss. 

7-9)- 

7  f.  Thy  God  reigneth,  i.e.  has  entered  upon  his  sovereignty. 
Eye  to  eye,  practically  =  face  to  face :  Jehovah  will  be  so  near  that 
the  watchmen  and  he  will  be  able  to  look  into  one  another's 
faces. 

338 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  52 :  14 


10.  The  Lord  hath  made  bare  his  holy  arm 

In  the  eyes  of  all  the  nations  : 
And  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see 
The  salvation  of  our  God. 

11.  Depart  ye,  depart  ye,  go  ye  out  from  thence, 

Touch  no  unclean  thing  ;  2  Cor.  6 :  17 

Go  ye  out  of  the  midst  of  her  ;  be  ye  clean, 
Ye  that  bear  the  vessels  of  the  Lord. 

12.  For  ye  shall  not  go  out  in  haste, 

Neither  shall  ye  go  by  flight : 
For  the  Lord  will  go  before  you  ; 
And  the  God  of  Israel  will  be  your  rearward. 

The  Humiliation  and  Exaltation  or  the  Servant 
(52  :  13-53  '  12) 

The  Servant:   His  Suferings  and  His  Great  Glory 
(52:13-53:1) 

13.  Behold,  my  servant  shall  ^  deal  wisely,  he  shall  be  ^  exalted 

And  Hfted  up,  and  shall  be  very  high. 

14.  Like  as  many  were  astonied  ^  at  thee, 

1  m.  prosper.        2  Gr.  om.       ^  gyr.  Tar.  at  him. 

10.  The  whole  world  will  be  witness  of  Israel's  deliverance. 
Bared  his  arm  to  deal  the  blow,  by  throwing  back  the  loose  upper 
garment  from  the  right  shoulder. 

11.  A  ringing  call  to  depart  from  Babylon  (cf.  48:  20)  and, 
purifying  themselves  and  bearing  the  sacred  vessels,  to  form  a 
solemn  procession  to  the  "  holy  city  "  (52  :  i). 

12.  The  previous  verse  had  suggested  the  exodus  from  Egypt; 
but  the  exodus  from  Babylon  shall  not  be  in  every  respect  like 
that  —  for  ye  shall  not  go  out  in  haste  (as  Israel  then  did,  Exod. 
12:  II,  Deut.  16:  3),  but  in  leisure  and  security,  for  their  God 
will  be  their  defence  behind  and  before. 

52:  13-53:  12.  This  great  passage,  the  fourth  and  last  of  the 
Servant  songs  (42  :  i  ff. ;  49  :  i  £F. ;  50 :  4  ff.),  gathers  up  the  leading 
ideas  of  the  other  three,  reveals  them  in  their  relation  to  each  other, 

339 


52 :  15  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


(His  visage  was  so  marred  ^  more  than  any  man, 
And  his  form  more  than  the  sons  of  men,) 
15.  So  shall  ^  he  ^  sprinkle  many  nations  ; 
Kings  shall  shut  their  mouths  at  him  : 

Rom.  15:21  For  that  which  had  not  been  told  them  shall  they  see ; 

And  that  which  they  had  not  heard  shall  they  ^  un- 
derstand. 

1  m.  from  that  of  man,  and  his  form  from  that  of  the  sons  of  men.  2  Gr.  many  nations 
marvel  at  him.    ^  m.  startle.    *  m.  consider. 

and  presents  them  in  the  form  of  a  complete  and  coherent  picture  of 
the  character  and  fortunes  of  the  Servant  of  Jehovah.  He  has 
already  appeared  as  Prophet,  the  destiny  of  whose  message  is  the 
whole  world  (Chap.  42),  and  as  one  who  has  toiled  hard  (Chap.  49) 
and  suffered  grievously  (Chap.  50)  in  the  exercise  of  his  high  calling ; 
here  the  idea  of  his  sufferings  is  treated  with  great  elaboration,  and 
the  Prophet  is  merged  in  the  Martyr.  But  the  sufferings  are 
crowned  in  the  end  with  glory ;  the  Servant  receives  the  homage  of 
the  world,  and  is  lifted  to  a  place  of  the  very  highest  honor.  Here 
again  the  Servant  appears  to  be  Israel  (see  Introduction,  pp.  251  ff.). 
52  :  13-53  :  I.  These  three  verses  are  a  summary  of  the  whole 
poem  —  the  awful  humiliation  of  the  Servant,  and  the  great  glory 
that  should  follow. 

13.  Deal  wisely:  rather,  with  margin,  prosper  (as  the  result  of 
his  insight) ;  but  not  impossibly  the  original  word  was  Israel.  So 
important  and  unexpected  is  his  exaltation  that  three  verbs  are 
used  to  describe  it. 

14.  After  the  first  clause  (read  him  for  thee),  another  seems  to 
have  fallen  out,  such  as  "  So  will  many  take  delight  in  him  " 
(Cheyne).  His  exaltation  will  be  as  amazing  as  was  his  humiHa- 
tion  (in  exile).  More  than,  etc.;  read  with  margin /row  that  of 
man,  i.e.,  out  of  all  human  likeness  —  alluding  to  the  disfigurement 
caused  by  leprosy  (cf.  53  :  4). 

15.  In  contrast  to  the  Servant's  appalling  sufferings  is  the 
reverent  homage  that  will  be  paid  to  him.  Sprinkle  can  hardly  be 
right;  perhaps,  many  nations  will  do  him  homage  (Gr.  marvel). 
Shut  their  mouths  in  awe  of  him.  For  understand  read  perceive. 
The  meaning  is  that  the  change  in  the  Servant's  (Israel's)  fortunes 
will  be  without  parallel  —  a  thing  such  as  had  never  been  heard 
before.  The  sorrows  and  horrors  of  exile  will  be  followed  by  a  glory 
which  will  command  the  homage  and  the  astonishment  of  the  world. 

340 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


53 


53.  Who  hath  believed  ^  our  report  ? 

And  to  whom  hath  the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  re- 
vealed ? 

The  Sorrows,  Humiliation^  and  Death  of  the  Servant  (53  :  2-9) 

2.  For  he  grew  up  before  him  as  a  tender  plant, 

And  as  a  root  of  a  dry  ground  : 
He  hath  no  form  or  comeliness  ;  -  and  when  we  see  him, 
There  is  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  him. 

3.  He  was  despised,  and  ^  rejected  of  men  ; 

A  man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  ^  grief  ; 
And  as  one  from  whom  men  hide  their  face 
He  was  despised,  and  we  esteemed  him  not. 


1  m.  that  which  we  have  heard.     SV  message.    2  m.  //^/  j^ig  should  look  upon  him;  nor 
beauty,  etc.     ^  m_  forsaken.    *  Heb.  sickness. 


53  :  I.  This  verse  goes  closely  with  the  last.  The  transforma- 
tion is  alike  unparalleled  and  incredible  —  for  who  could  have 
believed  what  we  have  heard  (see  margin),  namely, /^g  revelation 
of  the  arm  {i.e.,  the  power)  of  Jehovah,  as  shown  in  the  miraculous 
exaltation  of  Israel?  The  whole  passage  from  vs.  i  to  iia  appears 
to  be  spoken  by  the  heathen,  whose  astonishment  at  the  change  in 
the  fortunes  (of  Israel)  has  just  been  alluded  to  (52  :  15). 

2.  Before  him  (Jehovah?),  perhaps,  "  before  us.''  The  soil  on 
which  the  Servant  grew  up  was  dry  ground;  i.e.,  the  circum- 
stances by  which  he  was  surrounded  were  unpromising,  dishearten- 
ing —  a  possible  allusion  to  the  exile.  Further,  he  was  in  himself 
unattractive : 

Having  no  form  that  we  should  regard  him, 
And  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  him. 

Omit  nor  comeliness. 

3.  Not  only  unattractive  was  he,  but  repulsive,  a  man  of  pains 
and  familiar  with  sickness  (not  grief),  smitten,  as  it  were,  with 
loathsome  leprosy  (vs.  4),  and  therefore  by  others  despised,  for- 
saken, shunned. 

341 


53:4 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


4.  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  ^  griefs, 
Mat.  8 :  17  And  Carried  our  sorrows  : 

Yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken, 
Smitten  of  God  and  afflicted. 

5.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions, 

He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities  : 
The  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him  ; 
I  Pet.  2 :  24  And  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed. 

I  Pet.  2 :  25      6.  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray  ; 

We  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way ; 
And  the  Lord  hath  ^  laid  on  him 
The  iniquity  of  us  all. 

7.  He  was  oppressed,  yet  he  humbled  himself 
•   And  opened  not  his  mouth  ; 

1  Heb.  sicknesses.        2  Heb.  made  to  light. 

.  4.  The  fact  of  the  Servant's  sufferings  led  the  spectators  to  the 
theory  that  he  was  ''smitten  of  God"  for  sins  of  his  own — a 
frequent  explanation  of  suffering  in  the  Old  Testament  (cf.  the 
friends  of  Job) ;  but  in  truth,  as  they  are  led  to  feel  afterwards,  it 
was  their  pains  and  sickness  that  he  bore.  What  he  suffered,  they 
deserved.  Throughout  these  verses  he  and  we  are  strongly 
and  strikingly  contrasted.  Leprosy  was  in  a  special  sense  the 
stroke  of  God,  and  the  figure  of  the  leper  undoubtedly  underlies 
this  description. 

5.  Not  only  is  his  suffering  vicarious  (because  of  their  sins),  but 
redemptive  (with  a  view  to  their  salvation,  peace,  welfare). 
Upon  him  was  the  chastisement  which  was  to  procure  our  welfare; 
and  the  stripes  which  he  suffered  brought  healing  to  the  guilty, 
by  waking  in  them  a  sense  of  guilt  and  penitence. 

6.  Sheep  without  their  shepherd  God  (cf.  Ps.  23:  i).  The  Ser- 
vant's suffering  was  not  an  accident,  nor  was  it  punishment  for 
his  own  sin;  it  was  Jehovah's  doing,  and  for  the  sins  of  others. 
It  was  Jehovah  who  caused  to  light  upon  him  the  guilt  of,  and  the 
punishment  due  to,  us  all. 

7.  Though  oppressed  by  the  Babylonians  (if  the  servant  be 

342 


THE   BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  53:9 


As  a  lamb  that  is  led  to  the  slaughter,  Acts  8: 32!. 

And  as  a  sheep  that  before  her  shearers  is  dumb  ;        ^®^"  ^ '  '^ 
Yea,  he  opened  not  his  mouth. 

8.  ^  By  oppression  and  judgement  he  was  taken  away ; 

2  And  as  for  his  generation,  who  among  them  con- 
sidered 
That  he  was  cut  off  out  of  the  land  of  the  living  ? 
^  For  the  transgression  of  my  people  ^  was  he  stricken. 

9.  And  ^  they  made  his  grave  with  the  wicked, 

And  with  the  rich  in  his  death  ; 

^xa..  from;  AV  he  was  taken  from  prison  and  from  judgment ;  Gr.  in  his  humilia- 
tion his  judgment  ( =  rights)  was  taken  away.  2  Gr.  AV  who  shall  declare  his  generation  ? 
3  Gr.  for  the  transgressions  of  my  people  he  -ivas  led  to  death.  *  m.  SV  to  whom  the  stroke 
was  due.     5  Gr.  /  will  give  the  wicked  for  his  burial,  atid  the  rich  for  his  death. 

Israel),  he  was  submissive  and  gentle  as  a  lamb,  like  Jeremiah 
(11 :  19).     Omit  the  last  clause. 

8.  Almost  every  word  in  the  first  half  of  this  verse  is  difficult 
and  ambiguous,  but  out  of  the  obscurity  emerges  clearly  enough 
the  fact  that  the  Servant  died  by  an  act  of  injustice.  We  may 
tentatively  emend  and  translate  with  Marti :  debarred  from  justice 
he  was  taken  away  to  death,  and  as  for  his  fate  (so  Cheyne) ,  who 
gave  it  a  thought,  that  (or  for)  .  .  .  ?  The  land  of  the  living :  in 
exile  Israel  is  as  good  as  dead  (cf.  Ezek.  37).  My  people:  the 
abrupt  use  of  the  first  person  singular,  not  yet  used  in  this  chapter, 
is  strange.  A  very  simple  textual  change  would  give  "  for  otir 
rebellions  "  or  "  for  the  rebellion  of  the  peoples  "  —  either  of  which 
would  be  appropriate,  as  it  is  the  Gentiles  who  are  speaking  (cf. 
note  on  vs.  i). 

9.  Another  difficult  verse.  Instead  of  in  his  death,  a  word  is 
needed  parallel  to  his  grave :  possibly  we  should  translate  his 
burial-mound  —  Sellin  ingeniously  conjectured  his  cross.  Just  as 
the  poor  and  the  pious  are  often  practically  synonymous  in  the 
Old  Testament,  so  might  the  wicked  and  the  rich  be ;  but  by  a  sim- 
ple change  the  verse  may  be  made  to  read  : 

His  grave  was  appointed  with  the  rebellious, 
And  with  the  wicked  his  burial  mound. 

In  any  case,  the  idea  is  that  he  was  dishonored,  in  death,  with  a 
felon's  burial. 

343 


53 :  10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


I  Pet.  2 :  22         ^  Although  he  had  done  no  violence, 
^®^*  '4:s  Neither  was  any  deceit  in  his  mouth. 

The  Servants  Ultimate  Glory  and  Exaltation  (53  :  10-12) 

10.  Yet  ^  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him  ;   he  hath  ^  put 

him  to  grief : 
^  When  thou  shalt  make  his  soul  ^  an  offering  for  sin, 
He  shall  see  his  seed,  he  shall  prolong  his  days, 
And  ^  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in  his 

hand. 

11.  He  shall  see  of   the  travail  of   his  soul,  and   shall 

be  satisfied. 


1  m.  Gr.  Vg.  AV  because.  2  Gr.  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  purify  him  from  his  stroke. 
3  Heb.  made  him  sick.  *  ra.  when  his  soul  shall  make  an  ofering ;  Gr.  if  ye  give  an 
offering  for  sin,  your  soul  shall  see  a  long-lived  seed,  s  Heb.  a  guilt  ojfering.  ^  Gr.  the 
Lord  is  pleased  to  rescue  from  the  trouble  of  his  soul  (originally  no  doubt  to  rescue  his  soul 
from  trouble),  to  show  him  light,  and  to  form  (perhaps  originally^//)  him  with  understand- 
ing: to  justify  the  just  one  who  serves  many  well. 


10,  iia.  These  verses  present  difi&culties  of  many  kinds,  but 
two  things  are  plain  :  (i)  that  behind  the  Servant's  fate  is  the  divine 
will  —  no  accident  or  caprice,  but  the  pleasure  or  purpose  of 
Jehovah;  and  (ii)  that  that  purpose  has  decreed  the  ultimate 
exaltation  of  the  Servant.  Though  slain  and  buried,  he  is  to  rise 
again,  to  enter  upon  a  long  and  prosperous  career,  and  trium- 
phantly to  prosecute  the  purpose  of  Jehovah.  This  language  is 
much  more  appropriate  to  the  nation  (cf.  52  :  15)  than  to  an  indi- 
vidual. Unfortunately  the  Greek  text  of  this  passage  deviates 
very  seriously  from  the  Hebrew,  and  the  original  text  is  beyond  the 
possibility  of  recovery.  Marti,  assuming  that  a  certain  group  of 
letters  has  been  accidentally  duplicated,  and  adopting  some  hints 
from  the  Greek,  translates  : 

But  Jehovah  had  pleasure  in  his  servant, 

And  rescued  his  soul  from  7nisery, 
He  lets  him  see  light  to  the  full, 

And  in  his  posterity  helps  him  to  his  vindication. 

With  our  present  text,  the  third  clause  of  vs.  10  (which  should 
perhaps  be  translated  "  when  he  makes  his  soul,  i.e.,  himself, 
a  guilt-ofifering  ")  is  explained  by  the  fuller  statements  of  vss. 

344 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  53 :  12 


By  his  knowledge  shall  my  righteous  servant  ^  justify 
many : 
And  he  shall  bear  their  iniquities. 
12.  Therefore  -  will  I  divide  him  a  portion  with  the  great, 
And  he  shall  divide  the  spoil  with  the  strong  ; 

Because  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death, 

And  was  numbered  with  the  transgressors:  Lk.  22  -.  37 

Yet  he  bare  the  sin  of  many,  i  Pet.  2 :  24 

And  made  intercession  for  the  transgressors.  nXgi^l 


1  m.  make  many  righteotis.        2  Gr.  he  will  inherit. 


5  f . ;  but  the  when  (or  if)  is  hard  to  reconcile  with  the  fact  that  the 
offering  has  already  been  made.  Again,  iia,  in  its  present  form, 
would  mean  that,  as  a  result  of  his  sorrow,  the  Servant  would  see 
with  satisfaction  the  cause  of  Jehovah  prospering  in  his  hand; 
and  the  next  clause  would  read,  by  his  knowledge  of  God  and  his 
saving  purpose  shall  a  righteous  one,  my  servant,  make  the  many 
righteous.  But  the  Hebrew  for  this  is  stiff  and  unnatural,  and  the 
original  text  was  probably  different.  From  the  general  tenor  of 
the  prophecy,  it  is  fairly  probable  that  the  reference  here  is  to 
Jehovah's  justification  or  vindication  of  his  Servant  rather  than  to 
the  Servant's  justification  of  others.  With  these  words  —  He 
(Jehovah)  will  justify  him  (the  Servant)  —  the  speech  of  the 
heathen,  begun  in  vs.  i,  comes  to  an  end. 

lib,  12.  My  righteous  servant:  rather,  "  there  stands  my  ser- 
vant (Jehovah  is  now  speaking,  as  in  52:13)  righteous,"  i.e. 
justified,  vindicated,  before  the  many :  the  many  are  the  heathen 
(52  :  15).  Israel,  triumphantly  emerging  from  the  exile,  in  which 
she  had  borne  the  penalty  of  the  sins  of  others,  is  vindicated,  and 
takes  her  place  among  the  great  and  the  strong,  i.e.  the  notable  ones 
of  the  earth.  For  I  will  divide,  read,  with  the  Greek  version,  he 
will  inherit.  This  exaltation  is  at  once  the  result  and  the  reward 
of  his  sufferings  —  because  he  poured  out  his  soul  {i.e.  his  life- 
blood)  :  omit  unto  death.     Yet,  or  though,  whereas. 

The  interpretation  of  suffering  presented  by  this  passage  is  the 
profoundest  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  common  theory  ex- 
plained suffering  as  the  result  of  sin  on  the  part  of  the  sufferer, 
though  cases  are  not  unknown  where  the  innocent  perished  for  the 
guilty  (2  Sam.  21).  But  the  greatness  of  this  interpretation  is 
that  the  suffering  of  the  innocent  is  regarded  as  inspired  with  a 

345 


54:  I 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Future  Glory  of  Jerusalem  (Chap.  54) 

The  New  Jerusalem  will  be  Large  and  Populous,  and  Blessed 
with  the  Steadfast  Favor  of  God  (54  :  i-io). 

Gal,  4:27      54.  Sing,  O  barren,  thou  that  didst  not  bear  ; 

Break  forth  into  singing,  and  cry  aloud,  thou  that 
didst  not  travail  with  child  : 
For  more  are  the  children  of  the  desolate 
Than  the  children  of  the  married  wife,  saith  the  Lord. 

2.  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent. 

And  ^  let  them  stretch  forth  the  curtains  ^  of  thine 
habitations  ;  spare  not : 

1  Gr.  stretch,  etc.        2  Gr.  om. 

redemptive  purpose  —  the  redemption  of  the  guilty.  It  is  im- 
posed by  God  with  this  purpose,  and  accepted  by  the  Servant  in 
this  spirit.  It  is  chastisement  which  ultimately  procures  the  peace 
of  the  guilty  (53  :  5),  and  it  is  borne  by  the  sufferer  obediently  and 
unmurmuringly.  The  result  is  that  the  guilty  are  conscience- 
smitten,  and  finally  won,  accepting  Jehovah's  salvation  and  honor- 
ing his  Servant.  Thus  the  reward  of  the  Servant  is  twofold : 
through  him  the  guilty  are  won  to  God,  and  he  himself  is  Hfted  to  a 
place  of  the  very  highest  honor.  The  suffering  has  not  been  in 
vain  (49  :  4),  it  issues  in  triumph  —  in  the  conversion,  if  not  of  all, 
yet  of  some ;  and  the  sufferer  comes  down  from  his  cross  to  be 
crowned  with  glory  and  honor.      (See  Introduction,  pp.  252  ff.) 

Chap.  54.  This  glowing  picture  of  the  future  of  Jerusalem  appro- 
priately follows  the  vision  of  the  exaltation  of  the  Servant  in  53 : 
10-12,  especially  if  the  Servant  be  Israel :  in  any  case  it  continues 
the  strains  of  consolation  and  encouragement,  begun  in  49 :  14, 
with  which  the  prophet  wishes  to  close. 

Size  and  Population  of  the  New  Jerusalem  (vss.  1-6) 

I.  Barren:  Zion  is  addressed.  Desolate  and  married  —  de- 
scribe Zion  during  and  before  the  exile.  Zion  is  married  to  Jehovah ; 
during  the  exile  she  has  been  temporarily  put  away,  but  not  di- 
vorced (50:  i).  For  the  thought  of  the  numerous  children  that 
Zion  shall  have  on  her  restoration,  cf.  49 :  19-21. 

346 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  54:6 


Lengthen  thy  cords, 

And  strengthen  thy  stakes. 

3.  For  thou  shalt  spread  abroad  on  the  right  hand  and 

on  the  left ; 
And  thy  seed  shall  possess  the  nations, 

And  make  the  desolate  cities  to  be  inhabited. 

4.  Fear  not ;   for  thou  shalt  not  be  ashamed : 

Neither  be  thou  confounded  ;   for  thou  shalt  not  be 
put  to  shame : 
For  thou  shalt  forget  the  shame  of  thy  youth. 

And  the  reproach  of  thy  widowhood  shalt  thou  re- 
member no  more. 

5.  For  thy  Maker  is  thine  husband  ; 

The  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name  : 
And  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  is  thy  redeemer  ; 
The  God  of  the  whole  earth  shall  he  be  called. 

6.  For  the  Lord  hath  called  thee 

^  As  a  wife  forsaken  and  grieved  in  spirit, 

1  Gr.  not  as,  etc. 


2  f.  Omit  of  thine  habitations  (so  Gr.).  Spare  not,  i.e.  unstint- 
ingly.  The  curtains  are  the  tent  hangings.  Jerusalem  is  com- 
pared to  a  large  tent,  which  will  need  long  ropes  and  strong  tent 
pegs.  Spread  abroad,  said  of  population.  The  nations:  the 
old  Davidic  empire  is  to  be  restored  (55  :  3-5).  Desolate  cities  of 
Palestine. 

4  f.  The  shame  of  thy  youth,  Israel's  subjection  to  Egypt,  and 
perhaps  to  Assyria :  the  reproach  of  thy  widowhood,  her  subjec- 
tion to  Babylon  (in  exile).  Shall  he  be  called,  rather  is  he  called  : 
Israel's  God  is  the  great  God  of  the  universe. 

6.  Called  thee  back  as  a  wife  who  was  temporarily  out  of  favor 
(Est.   2  :  14)  —  outcast  and  downcast  (there  is  a  word  play  in  the 

347 


54:7 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


^  Even  a  wife  of  youth,  ^  when  she  is  cast  off, 
Saith  thy  God. 

7.  For  a  small  moment  have  I  forsaken  thee  ; 

But  with  great  mercies  will  I  gather  thee. 

8.  In  ^  overflowing  wrath  I  hid  my  face  from  thee  ^  for 

a  moment ; 
But  with  everlasting  kindness  will  I  have  mercy  upon 
thee, 
Saith  the  Lord  thy  redeemer. 

9.  For  this  is  as  the  ^  waters  of  Noah  unto  me  : 
For  as  I  have  sworn 

That  the  waters  of  Noah  should  no  more  go  over  the 
earth. 
So  have  I  sworn 
That  I  would  not  be  wroth  with  thee,  nor  rebuke  thee. 

10.  For  the  mountains  shall  depart, 
And  the  hills  be  removed  ; 
But  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee, 
Neither  shall  my  covenant  of  peace  be  removed, 
Saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  on  thee. 

1  Gr.  nor  as  a  wife  hated  from  her  youth.  ^  AV  when  thou  wast  refused,  ^m.  Gr. 
a  Utile  wrath.    *  Gr.  om.    s  Sjt.  Tar.  Vg.  some  Gr.  and  Heb.  MSS.  days. 

Hebrew,  Cheyne).      When  she  is  cast  off:    "  and  one  who  has 
been  wedded  in  youth,  can  she  be  rejected?  "  (Che3me).     See  vs.  i. 

The  Immovable  Love  of  God  (vss.  7-10) 

7  f .  A  small  moment  —  the  exile,  which  seemed  but  a  moment  in 
comparison  with  the  everlasting  glory  that  should  follow  (2  Cor. 
4:17).     In  vs.  8  omit  overflowing  and  for  a  moment. 

g  f.  This  crisis  is  as  the  days  (rather  than  waters)  of  Noah 
(Gen.  8:  20-22).  In  vs.  10,  for  for  .  .  .  but,  read  though  .  .  . 
yet.  The  divine  love  is  more  firm  and  constant  than  the  order  of 
nature. 

348 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  54:  16 


The  New  Jerusalem  will  he  Fair  and  Impregnable  (54  :  11-17) 

11.  O  thou  afflicted,  tossed  with  tempest,  and  not  com- 

forted, 
Behold,  I  will  set  thy  stones  in  ^  fair  colours. 
And  lay  thy  foundations  with  sapphires.  ^^^  21 : 

12.  And  I  will  make  thy  ^  pinnacles  of  ^  rubies,  18  f. 

And  thy  gates  of  carbuncles. 

And  all  thy  border  of  pleasant  stones. 

13.  And  all  thy  children  shall  be  ^  taught  of  the  Lord,         jn.  6:45 

And  great  shall  be  the  peace  of  thy  children. 

14.  In  righteousness  shalt  thou  be  established : 
Thou  shalt  be  far  from  oppression,  for  thou  shalt  not  fear ; 

And  from  terror,  for  it  shall  not  come  near  thee. 

15.  Behold,  they  may  ^  gather  together,  but  not  by  me : 

Whosoever  shall  ^  gather  together  against  thee,  shall 
fall  because  of  thee. 

16.  Behold,  I  have  created  the  smith 

That  bloweth  the  fire  of  coals, 

And  bringeth  forth  a  weapon  for  ^  his  work  : 

1  m.  antimony ;  Gr.  carbuncle.  2  m.  AV  windows.  ^  Gr.  Vg.  jasper.  *  m.  disciples. 
6  m.  stir  up  strife.    ®  m.  its. 

The  Beauty  of  Jerusalem  (vss.  ii-i4a) 

1 1  f .  Read  perhaps,  /  will  set  thy  bases  in  malachite.  Border,  the 
surrounding  wall.  The  whole  will  glitter  with  precious  stones.  A 
glorious  imagination,  when  we  think  of  the  burned  city  and  the 
ruined  walls  (2  Kings  25  :  9  f). 

13,  14a.  Taught  —  acquainted  with  their  God  (Jer.  31  :  34)  and 
obedient  disciples  of  his.     Peace,  welfare. 

The  Strength  and  Security  of  Jerusalem  (vss.  I4b-i7) 

15.  A  very  obscure  verse,  probably  late.  It  may  be  provi- 
sionally rendered,  ''  If  any  one  should  stir  up  strife,  it  is  not  of  me; 
whoso  stirs  up  strife  with  thee,  on  thy  account  shall  fall." 

16  f.  This  verse  explains    why  Jerusalem  may  feel  so  secure, 

349 


54:17  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  I  have  created  the  waster  to  destroy. 
17.      No  weapon  that  is  formed  against  thee  shall  prosper; 
And  every  tongue  that   shall  rise  against  thee  in 
judgement  thou  shalt  condemn. 
This  is  the  heritage  of  the  servants  of  the  Lord, 
And  their  righteousness  which  is  of  me,  saith  the  Lord. 

Invitation  to  embrace  the  Impending  Salvation 
(Chap.  55) 

The  Blessings  in  Store  for  Israel  (55  :  1-5) 

Rev.  21:6;    55.  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters, 
^^ '  ^^  And  he  that  hath  no  money  ;  come  ye. 

Buy,  and  eat ;  yea,  ^  come,  buy  wine  and  milk 
Without  money  and  without  price. 

1  Gr.  om.  come,  buy. 

because  Jehovah  is  the  arbiter  of  war,  the  Lord  ahke  of  those 
who  make  and  of  those  who  use  weapons  —  of  the  smith  and  the 
waster  or  destroyer,  i.e.  the  devastating  warrior.  This  being  so, 
no  assault  upon  Zion,  whether  with  weapon  or  word,  can  be  suc- 
cessful. Condemn,  show  to  he  in  the  wrong.  Righteousness  = 
vindication.     The  last  half  of  vs.  17  is  probably  appended. 

Chap.  55.  In  this  closing  chapter,  the  prophet  makes  his  su- 
preme appeal,  holding  before  the  people  the  emptiness  of  life  in 
Babylon,  the  brilliant  future  in  store  for  them,  and  the  speediness 
and  certainty  with  which  God  will  fulfil  his  redemptive  purpose. 

I  f .  Thirsty  describes  those  longing  and  languishing  in  exile ; 
and  the  invitation  is  modelled  on  the  call  of  the  water  sellers.  The 
wine,  milk,  and  bread  are  symbolic  of  all  that  is  involved  in  the 
restoration  of  Israel  —  not  only  material  welfare,  but  a  place  of 
unique  honor  and  power  in  the  world  (vs.  5).  All  this  is  offered 
to  Israel  for  nothing ;  her  God  gives  it  to  her  as  a  free  gift.  On  the 
other  hand,  her  own  worldly  efforts  and  ambitions  in  Babylon 
have  brought  nothing  but  dissatisfaction.     Vs.  i  should  probably 

Ho!   all  that  are  thirsty,  come  to  the  waters! 

And  ye  that  have  no  strength,  eat! 
Yea  come,  buy  grain  without  money, 

And  wine  and  milk  without  price. 

350 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


55:6 


2.  Wherefore  do  ye  ^  spend  money  for  that  which  is  not 

bread  ? 
And  your  ^  labour  for  that  which  satisfieth  not  ? 
Hearken  diUgently  unto  me,  and  eat  ye  that  which  is 
good, 
And  let  your  soul  deUght  itself  in  fatness. 

3.  Incline  your  ear,  and  come  unto  me  ; 

Hear,  and  your  soul  shall  live  : 
And  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  you, 
Even  the  sure  mercies  of  David. 

4.  Behold,  I  have  given  him  for  a  witness  to  the  peoples, 

A  ^  leader  and  commander  to  the  peoples. 

5.  Behold,  thou  shalt  call  a  nation  that  thou  knowest  not, 

And  a  nation  that  knew  not  thee  shall  run  unto  thee, 
Because  of  the  Lord  thy  God, 
And  for  the  Holy  One  of  Israel ;  for  he  hath  glorified 
thee. 

The  Wonderful  Salvation  is  near;  forth  then  from  Babylon ! 
(55  : 6-13) 

6.  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found. 

Call  ye  upon  him  while  he  is  near  : 

1  Heb.  weigh.        2  xn.  earnings.         ^  m.  prince. 

Vs.  2  means,  "if  ye  hearken  to  me,  ye  shall  eat,  etc." ;  prosperity 
depends  upon  obedience  to  the  call. 

3-5.  The  new  covenant  made  with  the  people  is  defined  as 
the  sure  mercies  of  David,  i.e.  the  gracious  promises  once  given 
to  David  (2  Sam.  7  :  8-16)  and  sure,  i.e.  reliable,  because  actually 
realized  in  him.  The  meaning  of  this  phrase  is  definitely  fixed  by 
the  two  following  verses,  the  two  beholds  being  practically  =  a5  .  .  . 
so.  As  David,  by  his  subjugation  of  foreign  nations,  was  thus 
a  divinely  constituted  witness  to  the  world  of  Jehovah's  power  and 
glory  (vs.  4),  so  would  Israel,  by  a  similar,  though  spiritual,  victory 
(cf.  2:  2-4),  similarly  become  Jehovah's  witness  (43:  12;    44:  8). 

351 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


7.  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way, 

And  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts  : 
And  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have 
mercy  upon  him ; 
And  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon. 

8.  For  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts, 

Neither  are  your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord. 

9.  For  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth, 
So  are  my  ways  higher  than  your  ways, 

And  my  thoughts  than  your  thoughts. 

10.  For  as  the  rain  cometh  down  and  the  snow  from  heaven. 
And  returneth  not  thither,  but  watereth  the  earth. 
And  maketh  it  bring  forth  and  bud, 

And  giveth  seed  to  the  sower,  and  bread  to  the  eater  ; 

Thou  shalt  call  (vs.  5),  as  a  master  calls  his  servant.  Israel  is 
the  spiritual  lord  of  the  world,  because  Hght  of  the  world  (42:6; 
49:  6). 

55  :  6-13.  The  prophet  now  returns,  in  the  end,  to  the  thoughts 
upon  which  he  had  launched  his  prophecy  —  the  nearness  of 
Israel's  redemption  and  her  wonderful  march  to  the  home-land 
(Chap.  40). 

6.  Seek  ye  Jehovah  :  not  a  general  exhortation  —  For  now  is  the 
day  of  salvation  (49:  8).  He  is  near  now,  in  the  imminent  de- 
liverance of  Israel  from  Babylon  through  Cyrus. 

7.  Vs.  7  is  probably  a  later  insertion,  as,  besides  addressing  the 
individual  (which  our  prophet  does  not  do),  it  deflects  the  thought 
somewhat  to  the  here  rather  irrelevant  idea  of  repentance,  and 
forces  upon  vs.  8  the  weak  idea  that  God's  thoughts  are  not  wicked. 

8  f.  Israel's  thoughts  in  Babylon  were  centred  on  the  visible 
and  material  (vs.  2)  ;  Jehovah's  thoughts  for  them  were  thoughts 
of  salvation,  large  and  high,  of  far  reach  and  compass  —  thoughts 
to  which  the  sorrows  of  exile  rightly  appeared  as  the  pathway  to 
honor  and  glory  (Chap.  53). 

10  f_.  For  but  watereth,  read  without  watering.  The  divine 
word  is  regarded  as  a  real  power,  which  simply  cannot  fail  of  ac- 
complishment (40 :  8) ;  and  that  word  has  decreed,  through 
Jehovah's  prophets,  the  return  of  the  people  to  their  own  land. 

352 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  55:  13 


11.  So  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  forth  out  of  my  mouth  : 

It  shall  not  return  unto  me  ^  void, 
But  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please, 
And  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it. 

12.  For  ye  shall  go  out  with  joy. 

And  be  led  forth  with  peace  : 
The  mountains  and  the  hills  shall  break  forth  before 
you  into  singing, 
And  all  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  clap  their  hands. 

13.  Instead  of  the  thorn  shall  come  up  the  fir  tree, 

And  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up  the  myrtle 
tree : 
And  it  shall  be  to  the  Lord  for  a  name, 

For  an  everlasting  sign  that  shall  not  be  cut  off. 

1  Gr.  om. 

12  f.  For  ye  shall  go  out  of  Babylon  (cf.  52  :  12) ;  this  is  the  proof 
that  Jehovah's  word  is  not  void  (vs.  11).  All  nature  will  rejoice 
in  sympathy  with  Israel's  second  exodus.  This  miraculous  trans- 
formation of  the  desert  into  a  region  abounding  in  beautiful  trees 
will  be  an  everlasting  sign,  a  permanent  memorial  of  the  power 
and  the  glory  of  Israel's  God. 

With  this  vision  of  the  desert  transformed  and  the  redeemed 
people  marching  across  it  to  the  dear  home-land,  the  great  proph- 
ecy closes. 


2  A  353 


TRITO-ISAIAH 

(CHAPS.  56-66) 


TRITO-ISAIAH   (Chaps.   56-66) 
I.   The  Background  of  the  Prophecy 

A  period  of  about  eighty  or  ninety  years  seems  to  sepa- 
rate Deutero-Isaiah  (Chaps.  40-55)  from  the  group  of 
prophecies  contained  in  Chaps.  56-66,  now^  frequently 
called  for  convenience'  sake  Trito-Isaiah  (third  Isaiah). 
The  scenery  of  this  group  is  Palestinian.  The  exile  is 
over.  More  than  three  quarters  of  a  century  had  elapsed 
—  the  date  of  the  group  is  probably  about  450  B.C.  — 
since  the  Jews,  or  some  of  them,  had  returned  from  Baby- 
lon to  the  home-land,  and  endeavored  to  reconstitute 
their  national  Ufe  —  at  least  along  ecclesiastical  lines, 
for  of  pohtical  power  they  had  none  ;  they  were  but  a  tiny 
dependency  of  the  great  Persian  empire. 

Encouraged  by  the  brilliant  promises  of  the  great  exihc 
prophet  (Chaps.  40-55),  they  had  come  back  with  the 
highest  hopes  in  their  heart.  But  these  hopes  were  doomed 
to  speedy  and  cruel  disappointment.  Nature  and  man 
were  alike  unkind.  There  were  bad  seasons,  and  the 
neighboring  peoples  seem  for  long  to  have  given  the  Uttle 
community  much  trouble  by  border  forays  and  in  other 
ways.  Even  as  late  as  the  time  when  the  chapters  we  are 
considering  were  written,  large  tracts  of  Judah  are  desolate 
(61  14),  the  enemies  upon  their  borders  are  raiding  their 
fields  and  their  vineyards  (62  :  8),  and  the  ruined  walls 
of  Jerusalem  are  still  unbuilt  (60 :  10).  Under  the  stimu- 
lus of  the  preaching  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  the  second 
temple,  to  replace  the  one  destroyed  nearly  seventy  years 
before  by  Nebuchadrezzar,  was  begun  in  520  and  com- 
pleted in  four  years.  This  temple  is  several  times  referred 
to  in  the  course  of  the  prophecy  (60  :  7  ;   62  :  9  ;   65  :  11 ; 

357 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


66  :  6),  but  it  is  very  plain  that  throughout  the  period 
reHgion  was  at  a  low  ebb.  Externals,  such  as  fasting 
(58  :  3),  received  careful  attention  :  it  is  characteristic 
of  the  period  that  even  our  prophet  himself  solemnly  insists 
upon  the  importance  of  Sabbath  observance  (56  :  2,  6  ; 
58  :  13  f.)  ;  but  as  in  the  days  of  Isaiah  (29  :  13),  the  hearts 
of  the  worshippers  were  far  enough  from  their  God.  The 
service  of  God  was  completely  dissociated  from  the  service 
of  man.  The  men  who  so  scrupulously  fasted  were  guilty 
of  bad  temper  and  violence  towards  their  employees 
(58 13  f.).  Bloodshed,  falsehood,  and  injustice  reigned 
(59  : 3  f.).  Little  could  be  expected  of  the  rank  and  file 
when  the  leaders  themselves  were  worthless  and  greedy, 
self-indulgent,  and  careless  of  the  welfare  of  the  people 
for  whom  they  were  responsible  (56  :  9-12). 

On  its  religious  side,  the  situation  was  still  further  com- 
plicated by  the  presence  of  men  in  the  community  whose 
practices  were  nothing  short  of  pagan.  These  would 
be  in  part  descendants  of  the  people  who  had  not  been 
carried  into  exile,  but  who,  remaining  in  the  land,  had 
perpetuated  many  an  idolatrous  local  custom ;  in  part, 
however,  they  may  have  been  Samaritans,  and  possibly 
other  neighbors,  with  lower  religious  ideals,  who  in  various 
ways  had  intruded  into  the  Jewish  community.  Their 
idolatrous  practices  are  alluded  to  in  some  curious  and 
interesting  passages.  Sometimes  these  consisted  in  the 
deliberate  worship  of  other  gods,  for  example,  Milcom  ^ 
(57:9),  Fortune,  Destiny  (65:11);  sometimes  in  secret 
and  mysterious  rites,  conducted  in  groves  (65  : 4)  or  gar- 
dens (65  :  3  ;  66  :  17),  and  involving  superstitious  ideas  and 
practices  which  were  abhorrent  to  the  true  Jew,  such  as 
the  eating  of  swine's  flesh  (65  :  4  ;  66  :  17).  This  idolatrous 
party  is  sharply  contrasted  with  the  strict  and  faithful 
few  —  notably  in  65  :  13  ff.,  where  four  times  within  two 
verses  the  latter  are  honored  with  the  title  "  my  servants."  ^ 

*  See  the  commentary.  2  plural.  In  this  prophecy  we  hear  no  more  of  the  Ser- 
vant, who  figured  so  prominently  in  Chaps.  40-55. 


358 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


II.  The  Prophet's  Message 

It  is,  as  we  have  seen,  to  a  very  guilty  people  that  the 
prophet  speaks.  It  is  their  iniquities  that  have  separated 
them  from  their  God,  and  their  sins  that  have  hidden  his 
face  (59  :  2)  ;  and  the  demand  of  Trito-Isaiah,^  as  of  most 
of  the  prophets,  is  for  a  religion  that  expresses  itself  in 
just  and  kindly  relations  between  man  and  man.  Fasting 
was  regarded  by  his  contemporaries  as  one  of  the  impor- 
tant exercises  of  religion,  but  the  fast  that  is  approved  by 
God  and  this  prophet  of  his  is  a  fast,  not  from  meat,  but 
from  oppression.  Or,  to  be  more  accurate,  the  true  service 
of  God  and  the  real  exercises  of  rehgion  are  not  negative 
at  all,  but  positive ;  they  consist  in  the  effort,  as  he  de- 
scribes it  in  ever  memorable  words,  ''to  loose  the  bonds  of 
wickedness,  to  undo  the  bands  of  the  yoke,  to  let  the  op- 
pressed go  free,  to  deal  thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  to  bring 
the  vagrants  home,  to  cover  the  naked,  to  satisfy  the  af- 
flicted soul"  (58  :  6,  7,  10).  In  other  words,  the  only  re- 
ligious service  worth  much  is  social  service  ;  and  only  a 
community  which  is  prepared  to  serve  God  in  this  way 
may  hope  to  be  happy  and  prosperous  and  divinely  guided 
(58  :  10-12).  There  could  be  no  possible  fellowship  be- 
tween the  righteous  God  and  the  rapacious  leaders;  it 
was  only  with  men  of  broken  and  humble  spirit  that  the 
holy  God  could  dwell  (57  :  15  ;  66  :  2).  This  prophet  lays 
considerable  emphasis  upon  material  prosperity  as  an 
element  in  the  reward  of  Jehovah's  faithful  servants  (65  : 
13  ff.),  but  better  still  it  was  to  know  that  Jehovah  took 
up  his  abode  with  them  (57  :  15)  and  turned  his  gracious 
face  upon  them  (66  :  2). 

The  hope  of  Trito-Isaiah  is  astonishingly  bold.  There 
was  indeed  httle  in  the  Jerusalem  with  which  he  was  famiUar 
to  kindle  hope  or  to  touch  the  imagination.  With  her 
demolished  walls  and  her  meagre  population,  some  wicked, 

iThis  word  is  used  to  cover  Chaps.  56-66,  though  it  is  not  impossible  that  the 
group  is  composed  of  fragments  from  more  hands  than  one. 

359 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


others  crushed  and  disconsolate,  she  must  have  lain  as 
a  very  heavy  burden  upon  his  heart.  But  he  looked 
beyond  the  shame  and  sorrow  of  the  present  to  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth  (65  :  17)  ;  beyond  the  guilty  city  he  saw 
the  new  Jerusalem,  which  was  to  be  "a  rejoicing,  and  her 
people  a  joy"  (65  :  18).  Upon  the  description  of  this 
Jerusalem  to  be,  the  prophet  lavishes  all  the  resources  of 
his  imagination.  Her  people,  who  are  to  be  all  righteous 
(60:21),  shall  know  no  fruitless  toil  or  tears,  no  early 
death  or  sudden  sorrow  (65  :  19-25).  Her  prosperity 
shall  flow  Hke  a  river,  and  her  children,  gathered  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  shall  be  comforted  for  evermore  (66  : 
12-14).  Through  her  gates,  which  are  to  be  open  day 
and  night,  will  stream  the  wealth  of  distant  peoples,  and 
over  her  will  rest  continually  the  wondrous  Hght  of  the 
glory  of  her  God,  so  that  she  shall  need  the  light  of  sun 
and  moon  no  more  (Chap.  60). 

Almost  the  only  feature  that  mars  the  beauty  of  tliis 
vision  is  the  place  which  the  prophet  assigns  in  it  to  the 
foreigner.  Less  generous  than  liis  great  predecessor 
Deutero-Isaiah,  he  gives  to  the  heathen,  in  comparison 
with  the  Jew,  a  place  of  not  only  subordinate,  but  almost 
menial,  service.  The  Jews,  as  the  mediators  of  the  true 
reUgion,  are  regarded  with  a  perhaps  not  unnatural  pride 
as  "the  priests  of  Jehovah,  the  ministers  of  our  God" 
(61  :  6).  But  in  contrast  mth  this  high  honor  accorded 
to  the  Jew  is  the  destiny  assigned  to  the  foreigner : 
"Strangers  shall  stand  and  feed  your  flocks,  and  foreigners 
shall  be  your  plowmen  and  your  vine-dressers"  (61:5); 
and  it  is  foreigners  who  are  to  rebuild  the  ruined  walls  of 
Jerusalem  (60 :  10).  Not  only  their  service  but  their 
wealth  is  to  be  made  tributary  to  the  Jews,  and  to  go  to 
the  embellishment  of  Jerusalem.  Through  the  gates  men 
are  to  bring  to  her  the  wealth  of  the  nations  (60  :  11),  and 
"the  wealth  of  the  nations  ye  shall  eat"  (61:6).  The 
Jews  are  to  be  the  lords  of  the  world,  the  other  nations  are 
their  cringing  vassals  (60  112). 

360 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


In  these  aspirations  the  prophecy  gives  expression  to 
one  of  the  least  lovely  traits  of  Judaism.  But  it  is  only 
fair  to  remember  that  the  same  prophecy  generously  assigns 
a  place  within  the  sacred  community  to  the  eunuch  and 
the  foreigner,  if  they  keep  the  Sabbath  and  hold  fast  the 
covenant  (Chap.  56). 

III.  The  Style  of  Trito-Isaiah 

The  literary  style  of  Chaps.  56-66  is  imitative  rather 
than  original.  Echoes,  in  particular,  of  Chaps.  40-55,  are 
frequent  —  so  frequent  that  the  two  groups  have  till  a  few 
years  ago  been  universally  ascribed  to  the  same  hand. 
The  writer's  powers  are  seen  at  their  best  in  his  description 
of  the  Jerusalem  to  be,  parts  of  which  are  almost  as  fine 
as  anything  in  the  Old  Testament.  No  one  can  miss  the 
beauty  and  cadence  of  the  following  passage,  for  example, 
even  in  the  ordinary  English  prose  translation : 

Violence  shall  no  more  be  heard  in  thy  land, 

Desolation  nor  destruction  within  thy  borders  ; 
But  thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  Salvation, 

And  thy  gates  Praise. 
The  sun  shall  be  no  more  thy  light  by  day. 

Neither  for  brightness  shall  the  moon  give  light  unto 
thee  ; 
But  the  Lord  shall  be  unto  thee  an  everlasting  Hght, 

And  thy  God  thy  glory. 
Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down, 

Neither  shall  thy  moon  withdraw  itself  ; 
For  the  Lord  shall  be  thine  everlasting  Ught, 

And  the  days  of  thy  mourning  shall  be  ended  (60  :  18-20). 


361 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


ANALYSIS  OF  CHAPTERS  56-66 

1.  A  word  of  cheer  to  those  who  are  in  danger  of  being  excluded  from  the 

church  (56  :  1-8). 

2.  The  demoralization  of  leaders  and  people  (56  :  9-57  :  13). 

(i)   The  sensuous  leaders  (56  :  9-57  :  2). 
(2)   The  idolatrous  people  (57  :  3-13). 

3.  Blessings  in  store  for  the  faithful  (57  :  14-21). 

4.  The  true  and  the  false  worship  (chap.  58). 

(i)   Fasting  (58  :  1-12). 
(2)   The  sabbath  (58:i3f). 

5.  The  sinful  people  and  the  divine  deliverance  (chap.  59). 

(i)   The  sins  (59  :  1-8). 

(2)  The  confession  (59  :  9-15). 

(3)  The  deliverance  (59  :  16-21). 

6.  The  glory  of  the  new  Jerusalem  (chap.  60). 

7.  The  proclamation  of  Zion's  redemption  (chaps.  61  and  62). 

8.  The  destruction  of  the  foes  of  Zion  (63  :  1-6). 

9.  Passionate  prayer  for  the  divine  favor  (63  :  7-64  :  12). 

(i)   Thanksgiving  for  ancient  mercies  (63  :  7-14). 
(2)   Passionate  entreaty  for  the  divine  forgiveness  and  pity  (63  :  15- 
64:12). 
[o.  The  blessedness  of  the  faithful  and  the  doom  of  the  apostates  (chaps. 
65  and  66). 

(i)   The  fate  of  the  apostates  (65  : 1-7). 

(2)  The  destiny    of    the    faithful    in    the    impending   judgment 

(65:8-12). 

(3)  The  great  contrast  (65  :  13-16). 

(4)  The  glorious  future  (65  :  17-25). 

(5)  Doom  pronoimced  upon  those  who  purpose  to  build  a  rival 

temple  (66  : 1-4). 

(6)  The  faithful  cheered  by  the  promise    of    Zion's    prosperity 

(66:5-14)- 

(7)  The  judgment  (66  :  15-18  a). 

(8)  Jehovah's  glory  announced  throughout  the  world  :  the  complete 

restoration  and  perpetuity  of  Israel  (66  :  18  b-22). 

(9)  The  fearful  fate  of  the  apostates  (66  :  23  f). 


363 


TRITO-ISAIAH   (Chaps.  56-66) 
A  Word  of  Cheer  to  those  who  are  in  Danger  of        5^ 

BEING    EXCLUDED    FROM    THE    ChTJRCH    (56  '.  1-8) 

56.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 

"Keep  ye  judgement,  and  do  righteousness  : 
For  my  salvation  is  near  to  come. 
And  my  righteousness  to  be  revealed." 

56  :  1-8.  The  exile  is  over.  For  more  than  half  a  century,  Israel 
has  been  in  her  own  land ;  and  questions  are  arising  about  the 
constitution  of  the  church.  Shall  it  include  only  those  who  are 
Jews  by  birth,  or  others  also?  The  presence  of  aliens  must,  in 
many  cases,  have  been  a  menace  to  the  purity  of  Hebrew  religion, 
and  one  can  easily  understand  the  rigor  of  the  exclusive  measures 
of  Ezra  (Chaps.  9  f.),  which  belong  no  doubt  to  this  same  period; 
but  our  prophet,  like  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Ruth,  takes  here  a 
more  generous  view  of  the  foreigner,  and  is  willing  to  give  him  a 
place  in  the  religious  community,  if  he  consents  to  observe  the 
Jewish  law  —  the  sabbath  being  significantly  singled  out  for  spe- 
cial emphasis.  In  the  sequel,  it  was  the  policy  of  the  sterner  Ezra, 
not  of  the  larger-hearted  prophet,  that  prevailed.  With  regard 
to  eunuchs  also,  the  hope  of  the  prophet  was  more  generous  than 
the  demands  of  the  law  (Deut.  23  :  i). 

Exhortation  to  keep  the  Law  (vss.  i  f.) 

I  f .  The  glorious  future  described  as  my  salvation  is  to  be  won 
by  keeping  judgment,  practically  =  the  commandments  of  the  law. 
During  the  exile,  when  sacrifice  was  impossible,  circumcision,  and 
the  hallowing  of  the  sabbath,  came  to  be  important  marks  of 
Judaism,  and  they  remained  so  (cf.  Neh.  13:17).  Its  prominence 
here  (cf.  vs.  6)  is  significant.  In  vs.  i  righteousness  is  obviously 
used  in  two  senses ;  in  the  second  half  of  the  verse,  it  is  =  salvation 
(as  in  Deutero-Isaiah) ;  in  the  first  it  is  =  legal  righteousness,  and 
defined  more  narrowly  in  the  last  half  of  vs.  2. 

363 


56:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  doeth  this, 

And  the  son  of  man  that  holdeth  fast  by  it ; 
That  keepeth  the  sabbath  from  profaning  it, 
And  keepeth  his  hand  from  doing  any  evil. 

3.  Neither  let  the  ^  stranger,  that  hath  joined  himself  to 

the  Lord,  speak,  saying, 
"The  Lord  will  surely  separate  me  from  his  people  ": 
Neither  let  the  enunch  say, 
"Behold,  I  am  a  dry  tree." 

4.  For  thus  saith  the  Lord 

"Of  the  eunuchs  that  keep  my  sabbaths, 
And  choose  the  things  that  please  me. 
And  hold  fast  by  my  covenant : 

5.  Unto  them  will  I  give  in  mine  house  and  within  my 

walls  a  2  memorial  and  a  name 
Better  than  of  sons  and  of  daughters ; 

1  SY foreigner.        '^ m.  Gr.  place;  Heb.  hand. 

Consolation  to  Proselytes  and  Eunuchs  (vss.  3-8) 

3.  Will  surely  separate:  foreigners  who  acknowledged  Jehovah 
appear  to  have  suspected  that  exclusive  measures  against  them  were 
in  contemplation,  as  indeed  they  were  (cf.  Ezra  10:11).  The 
eunuchs  would  probably  be  Hebrews  serving  at  the  Persian 
court  (cf.  39:  7).  Their  grievance  was  twofold,  excluded  as  they 
were  by  law  (Deut.  23  :  i)  from  a  present  place  in  the  congregation, 
and  debarred  through  their  childlessness  —  being  a  dry  tree  — 
from  any  place  in  the  future  life  and  worship  of  Israel. 

4  f .  Proselytes  and  eunuchs  are  not  to  be  disheartened,  for  .  .  .  . 
In  the  words  of  consolation,  the  eunuch  comes  first  (4  f.),  then  the 
proselyte  (6  f.).  Hold  fast,  etc. :  i.e.  fulfil  the  obligations  of  the 
Jewish  law.  The  consolation  of  the  eunuch,  like  his  grievance, 
will  be  twofold  :  he  will  be  given  a  place  in  the  congregation,  and 
his  name  will  be  perpetuated  (like  the  childless  Absalom's,  2  Sam. 
18:18)  by  the  erection  of  a  memorial  or  monument,  within  the 

364 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  56:8 


I  will  give  ^  them  an  everlasting  name, 
That  shall  not  be  cut  off. 

6.  Also  the  2  strangers  that  join  themselves  to  the  Lord, 

To  minister  unto  him,  and  to  love  the  name  of  the 

LOEX), 

To  be  his  servants. 

Every  one  that  keepeth  the  sabbath  from  profan- 
ing it,  and  holdeth  fast  by  my  covenant, 

7.  Even  them  will  I  bring  to  my  holy  mountain. 

And  make  them  joyful  in  my  House  of  Prayer ; 
Their  burnt  offerings  and  their  sacrifices  shall  be  ac- 
cepted upon  mine  altar  : 

For  mine  House  shall  be  called  an  House  of  Prayer  Mat.  21 :  13 
for  all  peoples." 


Mk.  II :  17 
Lk.  19 :  46 


8.  The  Lord  God  which  gathereth 
The  outcasts  of  Israel  saith, 
''Yet  will  I  gather  others  to  him, 
Beside  his  own  that  are  gathered." 

1  Heb.  Jiim;  Gr.  them.  2  SV  foreigners. 


temple  precincts  (the  walls  of  my  house)  —  a  memorial  which  will 
be  as  permanent  as  the  temple  itself  (cf.  55  :  13). 

6  f.  Similarly,  foreigners  who  devoutly  acknowledged  Jehovah 
would  also  be  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  worship.  My  holy 
mountain,  the  temple  mountain.  The  temple,  the  house  of  sacri- 
fice, is  now  twice  significantly  called  house  of  prayer.  During 
the  exile  prayer  and  the  spiritual  aspect  of  rehgion  generally 
would  doubtless  attain  a  prominence  they  had  never  enjoyed 
before.  In  the  temple,  the  sacrifices  of  these  devout  foreigners 
shall  be  accepted,  and  their  prayers  heard  (i  Kings  8:  43).  For 
all  peoples,  not  without  quahfication,  but  on  condition  of  obedience 
to  the  Jewish  law  (vs.  6).  This  clause  is  strikingly  quoted  by  our 
Lord  (Mark  11 :  17). 

8.  A  very  noble  verse  which  sums  up  the  thought  of  the  section. 
Some  of  Israel's  exiles  are  already  gathered  back  to  their  own  land ; 

365 


56:9  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Degradation  of  Leaders  and  People  (56:  9-57: 13) 

The  Sensuous  Leaders  (56  :  9-57  :  2) 

9.  All  ye  beasts  of  the  field,  come  to  devour, 
Yea,  all  ye  beasts  in  the  forest. 

10.  ^  His  watchmen  are  blind, 

They  are  all  without  knowledge ; 
They  are  all  dumb  dogs, 

They  cannot  bark ; 
Dreaming,  lying  down, 

Loving  to  slumber. 

11.  Yea,  the  dogs  are  greedy, 

They  can  never  have  enough  ; 
And  these  are  ^  shepherds  that  cannot  understand : 
They  have  all  turned  to  their  own  way, 
Each  one  to  his  gain,  ^  from  every  quarter. 

1  Gr.  hehold  how  they  are  all  blinded.        2  Gr.  kicked.        '  Gr.  om. 

but  others  are  still  to  be  gathered  —  citizens  of  other  lands. 
"  Other  sheep  have  I,  which  are  not  of  this  fold ;  them  also  I  must 
bring  "  (John  10:  16). 

56 :  9-57  :  13.  This  passage,  which  is  in  no  way  connected  with 
the  last,  seems  to  reflect  the  disorder  and  degradation  of  the  times 
of  Ezra-Nehemiah-Malachi  (about  450  B.C.).  The  leaders  are 
greedy,  sensual,  callous,  the  people  are  no  better  than  pagans ; 
and  the  blow  must  fall. 

The  Leaders  (56:9-12) 

9.  The  beasts  are  the  heathen  (cf .  Ezek.  34 :  8)  summoned  to 
devour  wicked  Israel. 

10  f.  The  watchmen,  the  spiritual  leaders  of  Israel,  are  compared 
to  sheep  dogs  (Job  30:  i),  but  they  are  blind,  see  no  danger 
(though  the  situation  is  so  desperate),  and  dumb,  lift  up  no  voice 
against  it,  because  they  are  themselves  idle,  sensual,  and  selfish. 
In  vs.  1 1  omit  and  these  .  .  .  cannot  understand  (as  explanatory  of 
watchmen),  and /row  every  quarter. 

366 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  57:2 


12.  ^  ''Come  ye,"  say  they,  "I  will  fetch  wine, 

And  we  will  fill  ourselves  with  strong  drink ; 
And  to-morrow  shall  be  as  this  day, 
A  day  great  beyond  measure." 
57.  The  righteous  perish eth,  and  no  man 
Layeth  it  to  heart ; 
And  ^  merciful  men  are  taken  away. 

None  considering 
That  the  righteous  is  taken  away  ^from  the  evil  to 
come. 
2.      He  entereth  into  peace  ; 
They  rest  in  their  beds. 

Each  one  that  walketh  ^  in  his  uprightness. 

1  Gr.  om.  vs.  12.    ^m.  godly,    ^m.  through  wickedness .    ^m.  straight  before  him. 

12.  A  graphic  description  of  these  besotted  "  pastors." 

The  Consequence  of  Bad  Leadership  (57:  if.) 

57:1.  Under  such  leaders  good  men  perish,  and  nobody  cares. 
Merciful  men,  rather  men  of  piety.  None  considering,  which  is 
parallel  to  no  man  layeth  it  to  heart,  should  be  followed  by  a  colon, 
and  that  should  be  for.  The  evil  is  not  the  evil  to  come,  but  the 
existing  evil.  Thus  —  godly  ?nen  are  swept  away,  none  considering  ; 
for  before  the  evil  the  righteous  is  swept  away. 

2.  The  peace  is  that  of  the  grave,  and  the  bed  is  the  bier  or 
grave.     Such  a  peace  is  welcome  in  these  troubled  times. 

57  •3~i3-  The  people  here  denounced  as  guilty  of  apostasy 
and  idolatry  are  probably  the  descendants  of  those  Judaeans  who 
had  been  left  in  the  land,  when  the  others  had  been  carried 
into  exile.  Partly  through  the  absence  in  Babylon  of  those  who 
might  have  fostered  nobler  ideals,  and  partly  through  the  influx 
of  alien  elements,  the  religion  of  this  native  population  grew  very 
corrupt ;  and  it  is  no  surprise  to  find  them  in  this  period  on  friendly 
terms  with  the  Samaritans,  themselves  of  mixed  origin  and  syn- 
cretistic  religion  (2  Kings  17:24-41).  They  created  a  grave 
problem  for  the  reformers,  as  we  can  see  from  Ezra-Nehemiah, 
and  from  this  and  other  passages  in  the  prophecy  of  the 
period. 

367 


57^3 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Idolatrous  People  (57  : 3-13) 

3.  But  draw  near  hither,  ^^ 

Ye  ^  sons  of  the  sorceress, 
The  seed  of  the  adulterer  and  the  whore. 

4.  Against  whom  do  ye  sport  yourselves  ? 

Against  whom  make  ye  a  wide  mouth, 

And  draw  out  the  tongue  ? 
Are  ye  not  children  of  transgression, 

A  seed  of  falsehood, 

5.  2  Ye  that  inflame  yourselves  ^  among  the  oaks. 

Under  every  green  tree  ; 
That  slay  the  children  in  the  valleys, 
^  Under  the  clefts  of  the  rocks  ? 

6.  Among  the  smooth  stones  of  the  valley  is  thy  portion  ; 

They,  they  are  thy  lot : 

1  Gr.    wicked  sons.     2  Gr.  ye  that  call  upon  idols.     ^  m.  -unth  idols.     *  Gr.  among. 

3.  But  as  for  you,  the  people,  not  the  leaders  —  a  new  address. 
For  adulterer,  read  perhaps  adidteress.  An  Oriental  reviles  a  man 
most  effectively  by  reviling  his  mother;  the  verse  simply  means 
that  the  people  themselves  were  adulterous,  i.e.  unfaithful  to 
Jehovah  and  devoted  to  other  gods,  apostate  and  idolatrous, 
sorcery  being  one  of  the  consequences  or  aspects  of  this  apostasy 
(cf.  2:6).  In  the  Old  Testament  idolatry  is  frequently  described, 
as  here,  in  terms  of  adultery. 

4.  The  second  clause  describes  the  gestures  of  the  mocking 
sport.  The  contempt  with  which  the  pious  Jews  and  their  efforts 
were  treated  by  their  opponents  is  well  illustrated  by  Neh.  4  :  1-3. 

5.  The  apostate  worship  involves  immorahty  and  child  sacrifice. 

6.  Idolatry  in  the  valleys.  There  is  a  play  upon  the  words 
smooth  and  portion  (much  alike  in  the  Hebrew)  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  reproduce  in  EngHsh.  The  reference  may  be  to  stone 
worship  (cf.  Gen.  28  :  18),  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  stones 
are  meant  at  all ;  the  allusion  may  be  to  smooth,  i.e.  flattering, 
deceptive,  gods  of  the  valley.     Whatever  they  were,  it  was  they 

368 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  57; 


Even  to  them  hast  thou  poured  a  drink  offering, 
Thou  hast  offered  ^  an  oblation. 
Shall  I  be  appeased  for  these  things  ? 

7.  Upon  a  high  and  lofty  mountain 

Hast  thou  set  thy  bed  : 
Thither  also  wentest  thou  up 
To  offer  sacrifice. 

8.  And  behind  the  doors  and  the  posts 

Hast  thou  set  up  thy  memorial : 
For  2  thou  hast  discovered  thyself  to  another  than  me, 
and  art  gone  up  ; 
Thou  hast  enlarged  thy  bed, 

And  made  thee  a  covenant  with  them ; 
Thou  lovedst  their  bed 
Where  ^  thou  sawest  it. 

9.  And  ^  thou  wentest  to  the  king  with  ointment, 

And  didst  increase  ^  thy  perfumes, 

1  m.  a  meal  ofering.  2  Gr.  thou  didst  expect  to  gain  by  departing  from  me.  ^  SV  m 
thou  providedst  room  for  it.  *  Gr.  thou  didst  multiply  thy  harlotry  with  them.  ^  Gr.  those 
who  were  far  from  thee. 

(very  emphatic)  that  were  the  people's  lot  and  portion,  whereas 
Jehovah  should  have  been  their  portion  (Ps.  16:5).  The  last 
clause  appears  to  be  a  later  addition. 

7.  Idolatry  upon  the  hills:  described  in  terms  of  adultery  (cf. 
vs.  3).  ,  ,     , 

8.  Idolatry  in  the  home.  On  the  doors  and  posts,  where  the  law 
ordained  that  a  text  should  be  inscribed  (Deut.  6:9;  11  :  20),  had 
been  set  up  a  memorial,  or  more  probably,  male  emblem,  symboHc 
of  fertility.  The  rest  of  the  verse  should  read :  for,  kindled  by  it 
(i.e.  by  this  emblem),  thou  hast  uncovered,  ascended,  and  enlarged 
thy  bed,  and  didst  buy  for  thyself  some  whose  bed  thou  lovest,  and 
didst  multiply  thy  harlotry  with  them  (Gr.  rightly  adds  this  clause), 
and  didst  look  upon  the  emblem. 

9.  Thou  wentest  to  the  king  :  read.  Thou  didst  anoint  thyself  for 

2B  369 


57:  10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  didst  send  thine  ambassadors  far  off, 
And  didst  debase  thyself  even  unto  ^  hell. 

ID.  Thou  wast  wearied  with  the  length  of  thy  way ; 
Yet  saidst  thou  not,  "There  is  no  hope." 
Thou  didst  find  ^  a  quickening  of  thy  strength ; 
Therefore  thou  wast  not  ^  faint. 

11.  And  of  whom  hast  thou  been  afraid  and  in  fear, 

That  thou  Hest, 
And  hast  not  remembered  me. 
Nor  laid  it  to  thy  heart  ? 

^  Have  not  I  held  my  peace  even  of  long  time, 
And  thou  f earest  me  not  ? 

12.  I  will  declare  thy  "righteousness"  ; 

And  as  for  thy  works, 

1  Heb.  Sheol.  2  Heb.  the  life  of  thine  hand.  3  Heb.  sick.  *  Gr.  when  I  see  thee,  I 
ignore  thee. 

Melech,  i.e.  Milcom,  god  of  the  Ammonites ;  an  appropriate 
allusion,  as  Tobiah,  who  was  hostile  to  the  reformers,  was  an 
Ammonite  (Neh.  2  :  10).  The  ointment  and  perfumes,  as  among 
the  "  harlot's  "  devices,  belong  to  the  symbolism  of  the  passage. 
The  meaning  becomes  more  plain  in  the  next  clause,  where 
ambassadors  are  sent  to  the  shrines  of  foreign  gods,  and  even  the 
gods  of  Sheol  (so  margin),  the  oracles  of  the  nether  world,  are 
consulted.  There  may  here  be  an  allusion  to  necromantic  prac- 
tices. 

10.  Though  tired  of  it  all,  the  people  did  not  abandon  hope. 

11.  Of  whom?  —  brazen-faced  apostates,  afraid  of  nobody. 
Liest,  hast  played  the  traitor.  Have  not  I  held  my  peace  even  of 
long  time?  read,  Is  it  not  so?  I  indeed  kept  silence,  and  hid 
(mine  eyes).  The  divine  silence  had  encouraged  the  apostates 
in  their  audacity. 

12  f.  /  will  expose  thy  "  righteousness,"  forsooth  (this  is  ironical), 
and  thy  works  —  the  false  worship  described  in  vss.  6-10.     The 

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13.  They  shall  not  profit  thee.     When  thou  criest, 

^  Let  2  them  which  thou  hast  gathered  deliver  thee  ; 

But  the  wind  shall  take  them, 

A  breath  shall  carry  them  all  away : 
But  he  that  putteth  his  trust  in  me  shall  possess  the 
land, 

And  shall  inherit  my  holy  mountain. 

Blessings  in  Store  for  the  Faithful  (57 :  14-21) 

14.  And  ^he  shall  say, 

Cast  ye  up,  cast  ye  up,  prepare  the  way, 
Take  up  the  stumbhng-block  out  of  the  way  of  my 
people. 

15.  For  thus  saith  the  high  and  lofty  One 

That  inhabiteth  eternity,  ^  whose  name  is  Holy : 

1  Gr.  let  them  deliver  thee  in  thine  affliction.  2  m.  thy  rabble  of  idols.  ^  m.  it  shall 
be  said;  Vg.  I  (Or.  they)  will  say.  *  Gr.  Holy  among  holy  ones  is  his  name,  the  most 
High  resting  among  holy  ones. 

rest  of  vs.  12  should  be  taken  with  vs.  13,  and  them  which  thou 
hast  gathered  read  as  thine  abominations  {i.e.  the  idols).  Thus: 
and,  when  thou  criest,  thine  abominations  shall  neither  profit  nor  save 
thee.  The  faithful  Jews,  on  the  other  hand,  were  to  possess  the 
holy  mountain,  i.e.  not  Zion,  but  the  mountain  land  (Judah). 

57:  14-21.  This  picture  of  the  fellowship  of  the  faithful  with 
God  and  the  prosperity  in  store  for  them  is  the  counterpart  of  the 
last  —  the  doom  of  the  idolaters, 

14.  And  he  (one,  or  perhaps  Jehovah)  shall  say:  the  clause, 
suggested  by  40 :  6,  is  unsatisfactory,  and  should  probably  be 
deleted.  Cast  up,  i.e.  a  highway.  The  verse  is  modelled  on  40 :  3. 
The  way  of  the  Lord  is  to  be  prepared  by  the  removal  of  all  so- 
cial, political,  and  especially  spiritual  impediments  (vss.  15,  18)  — 
stumbling-blocks. 

15.  In  the  high  and  holy  place  :  rather,  on  high  as  the  Holy  one 
(cf.  6  :  1,3).  The  exaltation  of  God  is  one  aspect  of  his  holiness  (cf. 
6:1,  3).  To  believing  men  who  are  weighted  with  a  load  of 
affliction  or  sorrow  the  thought  of  the  exaltation  and  the  eternity 

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57:i6  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


"I  will  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place, 
With  him  also  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble  spirit, 

To  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble, 

And  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  contrite  ones. 

1 6.  For  I  will  not  contend  for  ever. 

Neither  will  I  be  always  wroth  : 
For  the  spirit  should  ^  fail  before  me. 
And  the  souls  which  I  have  made. 

17.  For  the  iniquity  ^  of  his  covetousness  was  I  wroth 

And  smote  him,  I  hid  my  face  and  was  wroth  : 
And  he  went  on  frowardly  in  the  way  of  his  heart. 

18.  I  have  seen  his  ways. 

And  will  heal  him  :  I  will  lead  him  also, 
And  ^  restore  comforts  unto  him 

19.  And  to  his  mourners.     I  create  the  fruit  of  the  lips : 

Peace,  peace,  to  him  that  is  far  off  and  to  him  that 

is  near," 
Saith  the  Lord  ;  and  I  will  heal  him. 

im.  faint  away ;  SV.  faint.        2  Qj-.  ^  uttle  while.        3  Heb.  recompense. 

of  God  comes  as  a  consolation.  For  of  a  contrite  and  humble 
spirit,  read  crushed  and  lowly  in  spirit :  crushed  by  such  affliction 
and  misery  as  Nehemiah  (i  :  3)  found  on  his  arrival  at  Jerusalem. 
It  is  precisely  with  such  lowly  people  that  the  lofty  God  makes  his 
home.  The  afflicted  were,  speaking  broadly,  the  faithful ;  hav- 
ing nothing,  they  had  yet  patience,  hope,  and  God,  and  he  put 
new  heart,  courage,  into  these  crushed  (rather  than  contrite)  ones. 

16.  Spirit  =  souls  =  persons  :  the  faithful  Jews  are  specially  in 
view.  To  abandon  them  to  destruction  would  be  for  Jehovah  to 
defeat  his  object  in  creating  them. 

17-19.  For  the  iniquity  .  .  .  wroth:  read,  with  Gr.,  because  of 
his  guilt  (idolatry,  6  £f.)  /  was  wroth  for  a  moment  (cf.  54:  7). 
I  have  seen  his  ways,  i.e.  seen  to  purpose  and  chastised.  The  text 
of  the  next  few  words  is  in  some  disorder.  /  will  heal  him  occurs 
twice,  and  should  probably  be  dropped  from  vs.  19,  whose  saith  the 

372 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


20.  But  the  wicked  are  like  the  troubled  sea ; 

For  it  cannot  rest, 
And  its  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt. 

2 1 .  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked. 

The  True  and  the  False  Worship  (Chap.  58) 

Fasting  (58  :  1-12) 

58.  Cry  1  aloud,  spare  not ; 

Lift  up  thy  voice  like  a  trumpet. 
And  declare  unto  my  people  their  transgression, 
And  to  the  house  of  Jacob  their  sins. 

1  Heb.  with  the  throat. 

Lord  should  be  transferred  to  vs.  i8  —  after  ways.  Instead  of  I 
will  lead  him,  read,  by  a  change  of  pointing,  /  will  give  him  rest. 
And  to  his  mourners  should  be  transferred  to  vs.  19.  The  whole 
will  then  read  as  follows : 

His  ways  have  I  seen,  saith  Jehovah, 
And  I  will  heal  him,  and  give  him  rest, 

And  I  will  requite  him  with  comfort. 
And  for  his  mourners  do  I  create  the  fruit  of  the  lips, 

Peace,  peace,  to  the  far  and  the  near. 

The  fruit  of  the  lips,  praise  and  thanksgiving.  Peace  =  prosper- 
ity. The  far  and  the  near  are  the  Jews  dispersed  far  from,  or 
hving  near,  Jerusalem. 

20  f.  In  contrast  with  this  bright  destiny  of  the  faithful  is  the 
doom  of  the  wicked,  who  are  forever  stirring  up  foul  strife  in  the 
community,  restless  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  (cf.  48  :  22). 

Chap.  58.  The  people  are  wondering  why,  in  spite  of  their 
punctilious  observance  of  certain  fast-days,  the  final  salvation 
for  which  they  look  is  still  delayed.  The  prophet  replies  that  the 
only  fast  acceptable  to  Jehovah  is  a  fast  from  oppression  and  social 
injustice,  or  rather  that  there  must  be  the  positive  exercise  of 
kindness  and  generosity  towards  the  needy  and  destitute.  Their 
conception  of  worship  was  ceremonial,  his  was  moral ;  the  true 
worship  of  God  is  the  service  of  man,  —  a  much- needed  lesson,  but 
by  no  means  new  in  Israel  (cf.  i  :  10-17). 

I.  Cry  aloud  :   this  is  the  prophet's  commission  from  God;   and 

373 


58:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  Yet  they  seek  me  daily, 

And  delight  to  know  my  ways  : 
As  a  nation  that  did  righteousness, 
And  forsook  not  the  ordinance  of  their  God, 

They  ask  of  me  righteous  ordinances, 
They  delight  to  draw  near  unto  God. 

3.  "Wherefore  have  we  fasted,"  say  they,  "and  thou  seest 

not? 
Wherefore  have  we  affiicted  our  soul,  and  thou  takest 
no  knowledge  ?  " 

Behold,  in  the  day  of  your  fast  ye  find  your  own  pleasure, 
And  1  exact  all  your  labours. 

4.  Behold,  ye  fast  for  strife  and  contention. 

And  2  to  smite  with  the  fist  of  wickedness. 

1  m.  oppress  all  your  labourers.  2  Gr.  if  ye  smite  with  fists  the  lowly,  wherefore  do  ve 
fast  unto  me,  as  ye  do  to-day,  that  your  voice  may  be  heard  in  crying? 

one  important  function  of  the  true  prophet  is  to  bring  sin  home  to 
the  public  conscience,  to  declare  unto  my  people  their  transgres- 
sion (cf.  Mic.  3:8). 

2  f.  The  people  have  all  the  appearance  of  piety,  they  ask 
through  their  priests  and  prophets  (Zech.  7  :  3)  about  the  righteous 
ordinances,  i.e.  the  correct  forms  of  worship,  but  it  is  questions 
oi  fasting  {a,s  in  Zech.  7),  rather  than  conduct,  that  interest  them. 

3.  During  and  after  the  exile,  four  great  fast-days  were  cele- 
brated to  commemorate  specially  tragic  incidents  in  connection 
with  the_  siege  and  fate  of  Jerusalem.  The  people  wish  to  know 
why  their  God  took  no  notice  of  all  this  fasting;  i.e.  why  the 
Messianic  salvation  was  still  delayed.  The  prophet  begins  his 
answer  with  the  word  Behold.  The  religious  exercise  was  accom- 
panied by  a  worldly  spirit ;  you  find  opportunity  for  your  own 
business  (rather  than  pleasure).  The  margin  of  the  last  clause 
is  more  correct  than  the  text;  rest  day  though  it  is  for  you,  you 
drive  all  your  laborers  like  taskmasters.  The  last  (English)  word, 
however,  is  very  uncertain;  and  some  emend  the  t-est  in  a  way 
which  shows  the  particular  form  their  business  took  —  and  all 
money  lent  on  pledge  you  e.xact. 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Ye  fast  not  this  day  so 

As  to  make  your  voice  to  be  heard  on  high. 

5.  Is  such  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen? 

The  day  for  a  man  to  afllict  his  soul  ? 

Is  it  to  bow  down  his  head  as  a  rush, 

And  to  spread  sackcloth  and  ashes  under  him  ? 

Wilt  thou  call  this  a  fast, 
And  an  acceptable  day  to  the  Lord  ? 

6.  Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen  ?  ^ 
To  loose  the  bonds  of  wickedness. 

To  undo  the  bands  of  the  yoke, 
And  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free, 
And  that  ^  ye  break  every  yoke  ? 

1  Gr.  adds  saith  the  Lord.        2  Gr.  Vg.  thou. 


4.  Strife :  the  fasting  made  them  quarrelsome  and  violent,  so 
that  they  actually  smite  the  poor  (as,  with  Gr.,  we  should  prob- 
ably read)  with  the  fist,  and  such  fasting  as  yours  to-day  will  not 
cause  your  voice  to  he  heard  on  high  by  the  God  who  cares  for  con- 
duct, not  ceremony. 

5.  The  fasting  was  regarded  as  an  affliction  of  the  soul,  i.e.  a 
discipline  of  the  sensuous  impulses.  But  the  fasting  acceptable 
to  Jehovah  has  nothing  to  do  with  hanging  heads  and  beds  of 
sackcloth  and  ashes.  By  omitting  Is  it,  the  meaning  is  more 
clear  and  vigorous :  To  how  the  head  .  .  .  is  this  what  thou  call  est 
a  fast  ? 

6.  In  opposition  to  the  false  fast  is  the  true,  which  consists  in 
abstinence  of  another  kind  —  from  social  injustice ;  or  which 
consists  rather  in  the  positive  and  generous  rehef  of  every  kind 
of  social  distress.  The  verse  almost  seems  to  reflect  the  situation 
so  graphically  described  in  Neh.  5  :  1-13,  where  the  poor  had  been 
driven  to  mortgage  their  property  to  their  wealthier  brethren, 
and  even  to  sell  their  children.  The  bonds  of  wickedness, 
"unjust  and  oppressive  obligations"  (Skinner).  Every  galHng 
yoke  must  be  broken ;  this  is  the  divine  demand  —  the  fast  that  I 
choose. 

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THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


7.  Is  it  not  to  deal  thy  bread  to  the  hungry, 

And  that  thou  bring  the  poor  ^  that  are  cast  out  to 
thy  house  ? 

When  thou  seest  the  naked,  that  thou  cover  him  ; 
And  that  thou  hide  not  thyself  from  thine  own  flesh  ? 

8.  Then  shall  thy  light  break  forth  as  the  morning. 

And  thy  heahng  shall  spring  forth  speedily  : 

And  thy  righteousness  shall  go  before  thee ; 
The  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  thy  rearward. 

9.  Then  shalt  thou  call,  and  the  Lord  shall  answer ; 

Thou  shalt  cry,  and  he  shall  say,  "Here  I  am." 


If  thou  take  away  from  the  midst  of  thee  the  yoke, 
The  putting    forth    of    the    finger,    and    speaking 
wickedly ; 
10.  And  if  thou  ^  draw  out  thy  soul  to  the  hungry, 
And  satisfy  the  afflicted  soul ; 

1  Gr.  roofless.    2  Qr.  givest  bread  from  thy  soul  to  the  hungry. 

7.  The  touches  in  this  verse  are  more  concrete  than  in  the  ast ; 
both  may  well  be  drawn  from  life.  Nehemiah  (5  :  17)  had  himself 
dealt  his  bread  to  the  hungry.  Omit  the  poor,  and  for  that  are 
cast  out  read  wanderers,  vagrants.  Thine  own  flesh,  fellow- 
Israelites. 

8  f.  Then:  this  is  the  conduct  that  will  bring  the  blessing  — 
healing,  i.e.  recovery,  restoration;  light,  prosperity,  salvation; 
and  an  answer  (vs.  9)  to  the  yet  unanswered  prayer  (vs.  3). 
What  light  and  healing  involved  on  the  material  side  is  elaborated 
in  vs.  12.  If  righteousness  of  the  kind  just  described  went  before, 
salvation  and  the  glory  of  Jehovah  would  follow  after ;  this  sen- 
tence, which  summarizes  the  prophet's  message  in  this  chapter,  is 
modelled  on  52  :  12b.     The  putting  forth  of  the  finger  —  in  scorn. 

The  general  thought  of  vss.  d-ga  is  again  expressed  somewhat 
similarly  in  vss.  9b-i2. 

10  f.  For  draw  out  thy  soul  to,  read  bestow  thy  bread  on  (so  in 
part,  Gr.) ;  and  for  make  strong  thy  bones,  perhaps  renew  thy 
strength,     judah,  if  she  worshipped  her  God  by  serving  the  needy, 

376 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  58:  13 


Then  shall  thy  Hght  rise  in  darkness, 
And  thine  obscurity  be  as  the  noonday  : 

11.  And  the  Lord  shall  ^  guide  thee  continually, 

And  2  satisfy  thy  soul  in  dry  places. 

And  make  ^  strong  thy  bones  ; 
And  thou  shalt  be  Hke  a  watered  garden, 

And  Hke  a  spring  of  water,  whose  waters  fail  not. 

12.  And   ^they  that  shall  be  of  thee  shall  build  the  old 

waste  places : 

Thou  shalt  raise  up  the  foundations  of  many  genera- 
tions ; 
And  thou  shalt  be  called,  The  Repairer  of  the  Breach, 

The  Restorer  of  Paths  to  dwell  in. 

The  Sabbath  (58  :  13,  14) 

13.  If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  sabbath. 

From  doing  thy  pleasure  on  my  holy  day  ; 

1  Gr.  be  with.    ^  Gr.  thou  shalt  be  satisfied  according  as  thy  soul  desireth.    ^  Gr.  fat. 
*  Gr.  thine  old  waste  places  shall  be  built. 

would  be  perennially  fresh,  fair,  and  secure,  enjoying  his  unceasing 
guidance  and  protection. 

12.  This  verse  shows  that  one  very  important  element  in  the 
salvation  contemplated  would  be  the  rebuilding  of  the  ruins  of 
Jerusalem,  which  were  old  enough  to  be  described  in  the  terms  of 
this  verse,  as  the  city  had  been  destroyed  about  a  century  and  a 
quarter  before  (b.c.  586-450?).  For  they  that  shall  be  of  thee, 
read  perhaps  thy  sons.  Great  would  be  the  glory  of  the  genera- 
tion that  repaired  the  ruined  walls  (cf.  Neh.  6)  and  restored  the 
city. 

58  :  13  f.  These  verses,  emphasizing  the  scrupulous  and  cheerful 
observance  of  the  sabbath  (cf.  56 :  2)  as  a  test  of  fidelity  to  Je- 
hovah, form  an  interesting  counterpart  to  the  emphasis  on  ethical 
obligations  in  vss.  1-12.  Structurally  they  closely  resemble 
vss.  7-9. 

13.  The  sabbath  is  Jehovah's,  is  is  holy  ground  (hence  tiim 

377 


58:  14  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  call  the  sabbath  a  delight,     . 

^And  the  holy  of  the  Lord  honourable  ; 
And  shalt  honour  it,  not  doing  tliine  own  ways, 
Nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine 
own  words : 
14.  Then  shalt  thou  ^  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord  ; 

And  I  will  make  thee  to  ride  upon  the  ^  high  places 
of  the  earth ; 
And  I  will  feed  thee  with  the  heritage  of  Jacob  thy 
father : 
For  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

The  Sintul  People  and  the  Divine  Deliverance 
(Chap.  59) 

The  Sins  (59  :  1-8) 

59.  Behold,  the  Lord's  hand  is  not  shortened,  that  it  can- 
not save ; 
Neither  his  ear  heavy,  that  it  cannot  hear : 

1  Gr.  holy  unto  God;  and  shalt  not  lift  up  thy  foot  to  work,  nor  speak  a  word  in  anger 
out  of  thy  mouth.     2  Gr.  trust.     3  Gr.  good. 

away  thy  foot ;  cf .  Ex.  3:5);  and  it  must  not  be  profaned  by 
doing  thy  business  (rather  than  pleasure)  on  it,  for  it  is  the  holy  of 
Jehovah  —  a  remarkable  phrase  (unless  we  read  for  "holy" 
new  moon,  as  Duhm  has  proposed).  Nor  speaking  words,  i.e. 
idle  words ;  the  Hebrew  was  always  keenly  conscious  of  the  perils 
of  speech  (cf.  Eccl.  5:2;  Jas  3:8). 

14.  To  ride  triumphantly  over  the  high  places,  etc.  I  will  feed 
thee,  cause  thee  to  eat,  enjoy.  The  promise  is  one  of  "  triumph 
over  all  difficulties,  and  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  the  products  of 
the  land"  (Marti). 

Chap.  59.  The  people,  whose  punctilious  observance  of  fasting 
was  satirized  in  the  last  chapter,  are  here  represented  —  signifi- 
cantly enough  —  as  an  immoral  people,  whose  civic  life  was  corrupt 
to  the  core.  Their  apostasy  took  the  form,  not  only  of  idolatry, 
(Chap.  57),  but  of  immorality  (vss.   1-8).     In  the  name  of  the 

378 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


59 


2.  But  your  iniquities  have  separated  between  you  and 

your  God, 
And  ^  your  sins  have  hid  his  face  from  you,  that  he 
will  not  hear. 

3.  For  your  hands  are  defiled  with  blood, 

And  your  fingers  with  iniquity  ; 
Your  Ups  have  spoken  Ues, 

Your  tongue  muttereth  wickedness. 

4.  None  sueth  in  righteousness, 

And  none  pleadeth  in  truth  : 
They  trust  in  vanity,  and  speak  Ues  ; 

They  conceive  mischief,  and  bring  forth  iniquity. 

5.  They  hatch  ^basihsks'  eggs. 

And  weave  the  spider's  web  : 
He  that  eateth  of  their  eggs  dieth. 

And  that  which  is  crushed  breaketh  out  into  a  viper. 

1  Gr.  because  of  your  sins  he  Jias  turned  away  his  face  from  you  so  as  not  to  have 
compassion.    ^  m.  SV.  adders'. 

people,  however,  the  prophet  confesses  their  sins  (yss.  9-15); 
and,  to  deliver  them  from  their  desperate  case,  Jehovah  himself  is 
pictured  as  coming  like  a  warrior  fully  armed  (vss.  16-21). 

I  f.  If  the  long-looked  for  salvation  was  still  delayed  (cf.  58  :  3), 
it  was  not  because  of  Jehovah's  impotence,  but  because  of  the 
sins  which  are  described  in  the  following  verses. 

3  f.  Deeds  (cf.  i :  15)  and  words  are  alike  immoral;  in  particu- 
lar, justice  is  travestied  in  the  courts,  where  arguments  are 
specious  and  mischievous,  and  honesty  is  unknown. 

5-8.  Several  recent  scholars  believe  these  verses  to  be  an  inter- 
polation. In  any  case,  as  Skinner  remarks,  "  the  description  can  only 
apply  to  a  Hmited  class  of  utter  reprobates,  and  there  is  some  diflS- 
culty  in  conceiving  that  it  can  be  the  continuation  of  vss.  3,  4, 
which  contain  perfectly  definite  and  intelligible  accusations  against 
a  whole  community." 

5  f .  The  basilisks'  eggs,  symbolic  of  the  schemes  hatched  by  the 
wicked,  are  fatal  alike  to  those  who  eat  them  (cherish  them),  and 

379 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


6.  Their  webs  shall  not  become  garments, 

Neither  shall  they  cover  themselves  with  their 
works : 
Their  works  are  works  of  iniquity, 

And  the  act  of  violence  is  in  their  hands. 

7.  Their  feet  run  to  evil, 

And  they  make  haste  to  shed  innocent  blood  : 
Their  thoughts  are  thoughts  of  iniquity  ; 
Desolation  and  destruction  are  in  their  paths. 

8.  The  way  of  peace  they  know  not ; 

And  there  is  no  ^  judgement  in  their  goings  : 
They  have  made  them  crooked  paths  ; 
Whosoever  goeth  therein  doth  not  know  peace. 

The  Confession  (59  :  9-15) 

9.  Therefore  is  judgement  far  from  us, 

Neither  doth  righteousness  overtake  us  : 
We  look  for  light,  but  behold  darkness  ; 
For  brightness,  but  we  walk  in  obscurity. 


right ;  SV.  justice. 


to  those  who  attempt  to  crush  them.  As  this  figure  brings  out  the 
deadly  nature  of  those  schemes,  the  other  figure  of  the  spider's 
web,  which  is  amplified  in  vs.  6,  brings  out  their  futility.  The 
plots  they  weave  are  fraught  with  no  good  to  the  body  politic; 
they  are  not  as  a  garment,  with  which  men  can  cover  themselves. 
There  is  a  play  on  the  word  works,  which  moves  from  the  sense 
of  "handiwork,"  in  the  first  half  of  the  verse,  to  ''deed"  in  the 
second  half. 

8.  Judgment,  right,  justice.     Goings,  tracks. 

59  :  9-15.  The  lament  (vss.  9-1 1)  passes  into  a  confession  (12  fif.) 
—  both  in  the  first  person  plural,  as  the  prophet  speaks  for  the 
people. 

9  f.  Therefore  :  because  of  the  sins  just  described  (cf.  vss.  1,2). 
Judgment  and  righteousness,  i.e.,  the  divine  vindication  of  Israel, 

380 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  59:14 


10.  We  grope  for  the  wall  like  the  bUnd, 

Yea,  we  grope  as  they  that  have  no  eyes: 
We  stumble  at  noonday  as  in  the  twihght ; 
^  Among  them  that  are  lusty  we  are  as  dead  men. 

11.  We  roar  all  like  bears, 

And  mourn  sore  like  doves  : 
We  look  for  judgement,  but  there  is  none  ; 
For  salvation,  but  it  is  far  from  us. 

12.  For  our  transgressions  are  multipUed  before  thee, 

And  our  sins  testify  against  us  : 
For  our  transgressions  are  with  us, 
And  as  for  our  iniquities,  we  know  them  : 

13.  In  transgressing  and  denying  the  Lord, 

And  turning  away  from  following  our  God, 
Speaking  oppression  and  revolt. 

Conceiving  and  uttering  from  the  heart  words  of 
falsehood. 

14.  And  judgement  is  turned  away  backward, 

And  righteousness  standeth  afar  off  : 
For  truth  is  fallen  in  the  street, 
And  uprightness  cannot  enter. 

1  Gr.  they  shall  groan  as  dying  men. 

"^xdiCticaWy  =  salvation,  as  vs.  11  and  56:1  make  clear.  Among 
them  that  are  lusty,  etc.,  in  place  of  this  obscure  and  uncertain 
phrase,  Cheyne  has  suggested,  We  dwell  in  darkness  as  the  dead. 

II.  Like  hungry  bears.     Judgment,  y«5^/ce  =  salvation. 

12-14.  Our  transgressions  are  with  us  —  we  are  conscious  of 
them.  It  is  interesting  to  find  apostasy,  turning  away  from  our 
God,  which  in  Chap.  57  took  the  form  of  idolatry,  here  expressed 
in  terms  of  morality.  The  great  apostasy  is  the  ignoring  of  moral 
principles  in  the  conduct  of  civic  life  —  its  legal  {justice  and  right- 

381 


59:15  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


15.  Yea,  truth  is  lacking  ; 

And  he  that  departeth  from  evil  maketh  himself  a 
prey : 
And  the  Lord  saw  it,  and  it  displeased  him 
That  there  was  no  ^judgement. 

The  Deliverance  (59  :  16-21) 

16.  And  he  saw  that  there  was  no  man. 

And  wondered  that  there  was  ^  no  intercessor : 
Therefore  his  own  arm  brought  salvation  unto  him  ; 
And  his  righteousness,  it  upheld  him. 


Eph.  6:14,    17.  And  he  put  on  righteousness  as  a  breastplate, 
J  ^^^g    .  And  an  helmet  of  salvation  upon  his  head ; 

1  SV  justice.        '  m.  none  to  interpose. 

eousness;  cf.  vs.  4),  commercial,  and  social  relations;  these  are 
the  transgressions  which  have  deferred  the  great  salvation.  The 
personifications  in  vs.  14  are  vivid  and  powerful,  and  the  gravity  of 
sins  of  the  tongue  is  suggested  by  vs.  13,  as  so  frequently  in  both 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  In  vs.  13,  for  oppression,  read  per- 
verseness,  and  omit  conceiving  and. 

15.  The  meaning  of  the  second  sentence  is  far  from  certain. 
Marti's  emendation,  which  rests  in  part  upon  the  Greek  version 
and  maintains  the  parallelism  well,  seems  the  most  plausible. 
Truth  is  missing,  and  insight  departs  from  the  city  (or  the  gate  or  the 
rulers).     Judgment,  justice. 

59:  16-21.  The  situation  is  desperate,  and,  as  there  is  no  man 
to  relieve  it,  Jehovah  himself  comes  fully  armed,  to  punish  those 
opposed  to  him,  and  to  effect  for  the  penitent  a  deliverance  which 
will  be  the  wonder  of  the  whole  world.  Vss.  18-20  make  it  plain 
that  the  picture  of  Jehovah's  interposition  is  a  vision  of  the  future, 
consequently  vss.  16  f.,  which  describe  his  arming,  refer  to  the 
future  too  —  the  past  tenses  indicating,  as  frequently,  prophetic 
certitude. 

16.  This  verse  appears  to  be  modelled  on  63  :  5.  For  no  inter- 
cessor, read  with  the  margin  none  to  interpose.  Apparently  the 
pious  and  energetic  Nehemiah  was  not  yet  on  the  scene. 

17.  The  fullest  description  in  the  Old  Testament  of  Jehovah  as  a 

382 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  he  put  on  garments  of  vengeance  ^for  clothing, 
And  was  clad  with  zeal  as  a  cloke. 

i8.  According  to  their  ^  deeds,  accordingly  he  will  repay, 
Fury  to  his  adversaries,  recompence  to  his  enemies ; 
^  To  the  islands  he  will  repay  recompence. 

19.  So  shall  they  fear  the  name  of  the  Lord  from  the  west, 

And  his  glory  from  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

*For  he  shall  come  as  ^a  rushing  stream, 
Which  the  breath  of  the  Lord  driveth. 

20.  And  *^a  redeemer  shall  come  to  Zion,  Rom  n: 

And  unto   them   that   turn  from   transgression  in     ^^  *• 
Jacob,  saith  the  Lord. 

21.  And  as  for  me,  this  is  my  covenant  with  them, 

Saith  the  Lord  : 
My  spirit  that  is  upon  thee. 
And  my  words  which  I  have  put  in  thy  mouth, 

1  Gr.  Vg.  om.  2  JJeb.  recompences.  ^  Gr.  om.  this  clause.  ■*  m.  AV  when  the  adver- 
sary (AV  enemy)  shall  come  in  like  a  flood,  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a  standard 
against  him.  ^  Heb.  a  stream  pent  in.  ^  Gr.  for  Zion's  sake  the  deliverer  shall  come 
and  turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob. 

"man  of  war"  (Exod.  15  :  3),  and  the  model  for  the  New  Testa- 
ment descriptions  of  the  Christian's  armor  (i  Thess.  5:8;  Eph. 
6  :  14-17).     Omit,  with  Gr.,  for  clothing. 

18.  Read  :  in  proportion  to  (their)  deserts,  will  he  render  a  recom- 
pense, etc.,  and  delete  the  last  clause,  which  erroneously  explains 
the  adversaries  as  the  islands,  i.e.  the  heathen,  whereas  they  are 
in  reality  apostates  within  the  Jewish  community  (vss.  1-15). 

19.  This  terrible  judgment  will  carry  the  fear  and  fame  of 
Jehovah  throughout  the  whole  world  —  this  judgment  which  will 
come  rushing  on  impetuously  as  a  stream  pent  within  its  banks, 
which  the  breath  of  Jehovah  {i.e.  a  mighty  wind)  driveth. 

20.  He  shall  come  to  the  wicked  as  an  impetuous  stream  of 
destruction,  but  as  Redeemer  to  Zion,  and  to  the  penitent. 

21.  This  verse,  guaranteeing  the  perpetuity  of  the  happy  rela- 
tions now  established  between  Jehovah  and  Zion,  is  in  the  nature 

383 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth, 

Nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed, 
Nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed's  seed,  saith  the 
Lord, 

From  henceforth  and  for  ever. 

The  Glory  of  the  New  Jerusalem  (Chap.  60) 

Rev.  21:  II,  60.  ^  Arise,  shine  ;  for  thy  light  is  come, 
^^  ^  And  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee. 

1  Gr.  shine,  shine,  Jerusalem. 

of  a  somewhat  prosaic  appendix.  Them  and  thee  alike  refer  to 
Israel.  The  chief  elements  in  the  new  covenant  are  my  spirit  — 
the  divine  spirit  of  instruction  (Neh.  9  :  20,  Ps.  32  :  8)  ;  —  and  my 
words,  no  doubt  the  words  of  the  law,  which,  as  in  Ps.  1:2,  are 
to  be  perpetually  in  Israel's  mind.  This  description  is  highly 
characteristic  of  post-exilic  Judaism. 

Chap.  60.  Chapter  59  closed  with  a  vision  of  Jehovah  coming  to 
Zion  as  redeemer  (vs.  20)  ;  Chaps.  60-62  together  form  a  magnifi- 
cent picture  of  Zion  Redeemed.  Here,  as  everywhere  in  the  Old 
Testament,  material  elements  play  a  not  inconsiderable  part  in 
the  idea  of  salvation.  Through  the  eyes  of  faith  and  imagination, 
the  prophet  sees  a  brilliant  future  for  the  city  that  is  now  despised 
and  detested  (60:19),  dilapidated  and  forlorn,  suffering  from 
poverty  and  exposed  to  raids  (60:  18;  62  :  8).  He  sees  this  city 
crowded  again  with  her  own  children  from  distant  lands,  through 
her  gates  tribute  ceaselessly  pouring  from  the  ends  of  the  earth 
with  which  temple  and  city  will  be  worthily  adorned,  all  her  area 
illuminated  continually  by  the  glorious  light  of  her  own  God,  and 
foreign  peoples  streaming  to  her  to  share  this  wonderful  light.  A 
splendid  flight  for  a  prophet  whose  environment  was  so  meagre 
and  unpromising  as  Jerusalem  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century 

B.C. 

Jerusalem,  illumined  by  Jehovah,  will  be  the  Light  of  the  World 
(vss.  1-3) 

I.  Arise:  the  city  is  addressed  as  a  prostrate  woman  (52:  i). 
The  light  —  i.e.  of  salvation — which  will  dawn  for  her,  when  the 
glory  of  Jehovah,  who  will  come  as  Redeemer  (59 :  20),  rises,  like 
the  sun,  upon  her;   vss.  19  f.,  however,  show  that  the  light  is 

384 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  60:5 


2.  For,  behold,  darkness  shall  cover  the  earth, 

And  gross  darkness  the  peoples  ; 
But  the  LoBX)  shall  arise  upon  thee, 
And  his  glory  shall  be  seen  upon  thee. 

3.  And  nations  shall  come  to  thy  Hght, 

And  kings  to  the  brightness  of  thy  rising. 

4.  Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about,  and  see : 

They  all  gather  themselves  together,  they  come  to 
thee : 
Thy  sons  shall  come  from  far, 

And  thy  daughters  shall  be  ^  carried  ^  in  the  arms. 

5.  Then  thou  shalt  see  and  ^be  lightened, 

And  thine  heart  shall  tremble  and  be  enlarged ; 
Because  the  abundance  of  the  sea  shall  be  turned  unto 
thee. 
The  wealth  of  the  nations  shall  come  unto  thee. 

1  Heb.  nursed  upon  the  side.  *  Gr.  on  shoulders.  ^  AY  flow  together;  SV  be  radiant; 
Gr.  fear. 

conceived  in  part  physically.  The  whole  chapter  is  really  a  vi- 
sion of  the  future  (cf.  vs.  22),  but  to  the  eye  of  faith,  it  is  already 
as  good  as  come. 

2  f.  The  earth,  the  peoples,  being  without  Israel's  God,  are  in 
darkness;  but  upon  thee  (emphatic),  Jehovah  shall  arise — con- 
sequently nations  desirous  of  that  light  must  come  to  Jerusalem 
for  it. 

To  Jerusalem  the  Jews  will  come  from  the  Lands  where  they  are  scat- 
tered, and  the  Heathen  from  East  and  West  with  their  Treasures 
(vss.  4-9) 

4  f .  The  Jews^  return.  In  the  arms,  rather  upon  the  side,  i.e.  the 
hip  —  a  mode  of  carrying  children  in  the  East.  The  meaning  is 
that  they  will  be  brought  home  (by  the  heathen,  cf.  49  :  22)  with 
as  much  care  as  children  are  carried  by  nurses ;  and,  at  the  sight, 
thou  shalt  he  radiant,  and  thy  heart  shall  tremble  for  very  joy,  and 
he  enlarged  (opposite  of  distressed).  Besides  her  own  sons  and 
daughters,  there  comes  to  Jerusalem  the  wealth  of  the  nations, 
also  called  the  abundance  of  the  sea,  i.e.  of  products  of  other 
2C  385 


6o:6  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


6.  The  multitude  of  camels  shall  cover  thee, 

The  ^  dromedaries  of  Midian  and  Ephah ; 
They  shall  all  come  from  Sheba  : 

They  shall  bring  gold  and  frankincense,^ 
And  shall  proclaim  the  praises  of  the  Lord. 

7.  All  the  flocks  of  Kedar  shall  be  gathered  together  unto 

thee. 
The  rams  of  Nebaioth  ^  shall  minister  unto  thee : 
They  shall  come  up  with  acceptance  on  mine  altar, 
And  ^  I  will  glorify  the  house  of  my  glory. 

8.  Who  are  these  that  fly  as  a  cloud. 

And  as  the  doves  ^  to  their  windows  ? 

9.  Surely  the  isles  shall  wait  for  me. 

And  the  ships  of  Tarshish  first, 

1  m.  young  camels.     2  Two  Gr.  MSS.  add  and  precious  stones.     3  Gr.  shall  come.     ^  Gr. 
my  house  oj  prayer  shall  be  glorified.    ^  Gr.  with  their  young  ones. 

lands  carried  upon  the  sea.     Post-exilic  Judaism  loved  to  think  of 
the  heathen  world  as  contributing  to  the  glory  of  Jerusalem  and 
its  temple  (cf.  Hag.  2:7). 
6  f.   Tribtde  from  the  East. 

6.  Midian  in  north  Arabia,  Ephah  a  Midianite  tribe  (Gen. 
25  :  4),  Sheba  in  southwestern  Arabia.  Omit  they  shall  bring 
gold  and  frankincense,  and  read  all  (and  not  merely  the  queen,  as  in 
Solomon's  time,  i  Kings  10)  those  of  Sheba  shall  come,  and  proclaim 
the  praises  of  Jehovah. 

7.  Kedar,  Nebaioth :  nomads  of  north  Arabia,  rich  in  flocks. 
For  minister,  which  appears  to  come  from  vs.  10,  read,  by  a  sHght 
change,  shall  earnestly  seek  thee  {i.e.  Zion)  :  these  animals  would 
be  offered  in  scarifice.  The  house  of  my  glory :  Gr.  reads,  per- 
haps correctly,  my  house  of  prayer  (cf.  56  :  7). 

8  f.  Tribute  from  the  west.  Flying  swiftly,  like  clouds  or  like 
doves  to  their  cotes  (cf .  Gen.  8:  9),  are  descried  ships  bearing  exiles 
and  treasure.  This  fine  picture  is  somewhat  obscured  by  the  first 
clause  of  vs.  9,  whose  reading,  affected  by  42:4;  51:5,  should 
almost  certainly  be : 

For  to  me  the  ships  gather, 

The  vessels  of  Tarshish  —  cf.  2  :  16  —  in  the  van. 
386 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  60:13 


To  bring  thy  sons  from  far, 

Their  silver  and  their  gold  with  them, 

For  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God, 
And  for  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  because  he  hath 
glorified  thee. 

10.  And  strangers  shall  build  up  thy  walls. 

And  their  kings  shall  minister  unto  thee. 
For  in  my  wrath  I  smote  thee, 

But  in  my  favour  have  I  had  mercy  on  thee. 

11.  Thy  gates  also  shall  be  open  continually; 

They  shall  not  be  shut  day  nor  night ; 
That  men  may  bring  unto  thee  the  wealth  of  the  nations. 
And  their  kings  led  with  them. 

12.  For  that  nation  and  kingdom  that  will  not  serve 

thee  shall  perish  :  yea,  those  nations  shall  be 
utterly  wasted. 

13.  The  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  come  unto  thee. 

The  fir  tree,  the  pine,  and  the  box  tree  together  ; 
To  beautify  the  place  of  my  sanctuary, 

^  And  I  will  make  the  place  of  my  feet  glorious. 

1  Gr.  om.  this  clause. 


Jerusalem  will  he  rebuilt  by  Foreign  Hands  and   at  Foreign   Cost, 
and   supplicated  by  her  Former  Tyrants  (vss.   10-16) 

10-12.  Strangers:  many  of  the  later  Jews  thought  with  pleas- 
ure of  other  nations  as  their  menials  (cf.  vs.  5) ;  in  point  of  fact, 
the  walls  were  built  by  Nehemiah,  cf.  Neh.  6.  The  gates  are  to 
be  continually  open  to  receive  the  endless  stream  of  treasure. 
Their  kings  leading  the  train  (better  than  led).  Recent  scholars 
regard  vs.  12,  which  spoils  the  metre,  as  an  intrusion,  based  on 
Zech.  14 :  i6-ig. 

13.  The  glory  of  Lebanon,  etc. :  the  temple  buildings  demand 
the  choicest  wood.     The  place  of  my  feet :   Jerusalem,  especially 

387 


6o;i4  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


14.  And  the  sons  of  them  that  afflicted  thee  shall  come 

bending  unto  thee ; 
And  all  they  that  despised  thee  ^  shall  bow  themselves 

down  at  the  soles  of  thy  feet ; 
And  they  shall  call  thee  the  City  of  the  Lord, 
The  Zion  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 

15.  Whereas  thou  hast  been  forsaken 

And  hated,  so  that  no  man  ^  passed  through  thee, 
I  will  make  thee  an  eternal  excellency, 
A  joy  of  many  generations. 

16.  Thou  shalt  also  suck  the  milk  of  the  nations, 

And  shalt  ^  suck  the  breast  of  kings  ; 
And  thou  shalt  know  that  I  the  Lord  am  thy  saviour, 
And  thy  redeemer,  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob. 

17.  For  brass  I  will  bring  gold, 

And  for  iron  I  will  bring  silver. 
And  for  wood  brass, 
And  for  stones  iron  : 

1  Gr.  om.  this  clause.        2  Gr.  helped  thee.        ^  Gr.  consume  the  wealth  of  kings. 

the  temple,  was,  as  it  were,  the  place  where  Jehovah,  who  dwells 
on  high  (57  :  15),  touches  the  earth. 

14.  Obeisance  is  now  paid  to  Zion  by  those  who  formerly- 
crushed  and  despised  her.  Read  afflicted  and  despised  thee;  and 
omit,  with  Gr.,  all  shall  bow  themselves  down  at  the  soles  of  thy  feet. 

16.  For  suck  the  breast,  Gr.  reads  consume  the  wealth  (of  kings). 
The  thought  is  similar  to  that  of  vss.  5,  10.  This  control  of  Gentile 
resources  is  the  proof  to  the  Jew  of  Jehovah's  redemptive  power 
(cf.  49:  26). 

This  Outward  Glory  of  Jerusalem  will  he  matched  by  an  Inner  Glory 
(vs.  17-22) 

17.  Beauty  and  order  everywhere.  The  plain  metals  will  be 
replaced  by  the  precious ;  and  I  will  make  Peace  thy  governor,  and 

388 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  60:21 


I  will  also  make  thy  officers  peace, 
And  ^  thine  exactors  righteousness. 

18.  Violence  shall  no  more  be  heard  in  thy  land, 

Desolation  nor  destruction  within  thy  borders  ; 
But  thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  Salvation, 
And  thy  gates  Praise. 

19.  The  sun  shall  be  no  more  thy  Ught  by  day ; 

Neither  for  brightness  shall  the  moon  give  light  unto 
thee.2 
But  the  Lord  shall  be  unto  thee  an  everlasting  Hght,  Rev.  21:11; 
And  thy  God  thy  glory.  ^^  •  ^ 

20.  Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down. 

Neither  shall  thy  moon  withdraw  itself  : 
For  the  Lord  shall  be  thine  everlasting  light, 
And  the  days  of  thy  mourning  shall  be  ended. 

21.  Thy  people  shall  be  all  righteous. 

They  shall  inherit  the  land  for  ever  ; 

^  m.  thy  taskmasters.        2  q^.  adds  by  night. 

Righteousness  thy  lord  —  these  to  replace  the  Persian  ofificials 
and  the  rapacious  Jewish  "pastors"  (56:  11).  The  clause  and 
for  wood  brass,  and  for  stones  iron,  which,  besides  contradicting 
vs.  13  with  its  various  woods,  itself  involves  a  somewhat  futile 
thought,  is  omitted  by  some. 

18.  Violence,  whether  from  the  neighboring  peoples  (62  :  8)  or 
from  Jews  themselves  (58  :  4).  The  walls  were  to  be  called  Salva- 
tion, because  they  guarantee  the  safety  of  the  city ;  and  the  gates 
Praise,  because  through  them  stream  the  heathen  with  their  gifts. 

19  f.  The  sun,  etc.  These  two  verses  clearly  show  that  the  light 
of  Jehovah  is  more  than  a  symbol  for  the  blessings  of  redemption ; 
there  comes  from  it  a  real  illumination  of  the  city.  The  poem 
strikingly  ends,  as  it  began  (vss.  1-3),  with  this  vision  of  the  illu- 
mined city. 

21  f.  Now  the  righteous  are  disappearing  (57  :  i),  then  they  shall 
be  all  righteous.  Besides  character,  numbers  and  permanent 
possession  of  the  land  are  essential  elements  in  the  salvation  con- 

389 


6o:22  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


^  The  branch  of  ^  my  planting, 

The  work  of  ^  my  hands,  that  I  may  be  glorified. 
22.  The  httle  one  shall  become  a  thousand. 

And  the  small  one  a  strong  nation  : 
I  the  Lord 

Will  hasten  it  in  its  time. 

The  Proclamation  of  Zion's  Redemption  (6i  :  1-62  :  12) 


Lk.  4: 18  f.    61.  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me  ; 
Acts  10: 38  Because  the  Lord  hath  anointed  me 

To  preach  good  tidings  unto  the  ^  meek  ;  he  hath  sent 
me 
To  bind  up  the  brokenhearted, 
To  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives, 

^  Gr.  preserving  the  plant.       2  jjeb.  variant,  his.       ^  Gr.  his.      ^  m.  Gr.  poor. 

templated  by  Judaism.  A  thousand  should  perhaps  be  trans- 
lated a  clan.  I  will  hasten  it,  the  brilliant  programme  sketched 
in  this  chapter. 

Chaps.  61  and  62.  Of  these  chapters,  as  of  the  last  (Chap.  60), 
the  theme  is  the  glory  and  security  of  Zion  in  the  coming  year  of 
grace  which  the  prophet  is  commissioned  to  proclaim.  The  pecu- 
liarity of  the  section  is  the  remarkable  statement  in  the  opening 
verses  (61  :  1-3)  of  the  terms  of  the  prophet's  commission,  or  at 
least  of  his  interpretation  of  that  commission.  Some  suppose  that 
the  speaker  here  is  the  Servant  of  Jehovah,  the  same  or  a  similar 
figure  to  that  which  played  so  great  a  part  in  the  prophecies  of 
Deutero-Isaiah.  But  there  the  Servant  was  the  mediator  of 
salvation,  here  the  speaker  simply  proclaims  it ;  there  the  salvation 
was  for  the  whole  world,  here  it  is  only  for  Zion  —  for  her  enemies 
(63  :  3,  6)  a  day  of  vengeance  (61:2;  63  :  4)  is  declared.  On  the 
whole,  it  is  probable  that  the  prophet  himself  is  the  speaker. 

I  f .  The  spirit :  the  prophet  is  inspired,  because  anointed,  i.e. 
consecrated.  Here  the  prophet's  task  is  to  console,  encourage, 
and  inspire  with  hope;  in  58:  i,  it  was  to  convict  of  sin.  The 
meek  and  brokenhearted,  to  whom  the  good  news  comes,  are  the 
victims  of  the  social  wrongs  alluded  to  in  58:6,  9 ;  the  captives 
are  those  who  were  sold  into  slavery  for  debt  (Neh.  5 :  5-8)  — 

390 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  61:4 


And  the  ^  opening  of  the  prison  to  ^  them  that  are 
bound ; 

2.  To  proclaim  ^the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord, 

And  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our  God  ; 

To  comfort  all  that  mourn  ; 

3.  To  appoint  unto  them  that  mourn  in  Zion, 
To  give  unto  them  a  garland  for  ashes, 

The  oil  of  joy  for  mourning, 

The  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness ; 
That  they  might  be  called  trees  of  righteousness. 

The  planting  of  the  Lord,  that  he  might  be  glorified. 

4.  And  they  shall  build  the  old  wastes, 

They  shall  raise  up  the  former  desolations. 

And  they  shall  repair  the  waste  cities, 
The  desolations  of  many  generations. 

^  m.  Gr.  opening  of  the  eyes.  2  Gr.  the  blind.  ^  m.  the  year  of  the  Lord's  good  pleas- 
ure; SV  the  year  of  Jehovah's  favor. 

though  these  three  words  may  not  impossibly  be  taken  in  a  wider 
sense.  In  associating  the  liberty  and  release  with  the  year  of 
Jehovah's  favor  (see  margin  and  SV),  the  writer  is  thinking  per- 
haps of  the  law  prescribing  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the 
seventh  year,  or  of  some  law  akin  to  that  of  the  jubilee.  The  day 
of  favor  to  Zion  will  be  a  day  of  vengeance  upon  the  enemies  of 
Zion  (63  :  1-6). 

In  claiming  to  fulfil  this  prophecy,  Jesus  significantly  omits  the 
clause  announcing  vengeance  (Lk.  4:  17-21). 

3.  Delete  unto  them  that  mourn  in  Zion,  to  give,  which  spoils  the 
metre,  and  needlessly  explains  who  the  mourners  are  of  vs.  2. 
The  words  for  mourning  and  garment  should  be  transposed, 
reading : 

Oil  of  joy  for  the  garment  of  mourning, 
A  song  of  praise  for  a  spirit  dimmed. 

Garland,  turban,  headdress;  ashes  on  the  head  were  a  sign  of 
mourning.  For  that  they  might  be,  read  and  they  shall  be.  Trees, 
oaks;  evergreen  trees  were  emblems  of  the  life  of  the  righteous 
(Ps.  1:3).     Planting  of  Jehovah,  cf.  60 :  21. 

391 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


5.  And  strangers  shall  stand  and  feed  your  flocks, 

And  aliens  shall  be  your  plowmen  and  your  vine- 
dressers. 

6.  But  ye  shall  be  named  the  priests  of  the  Lord  : 

Men  shall  call  you  the  ministers  of  our  God : 
Ye  shall  eat  the  wealth  of  the  nations, 
And  ^  in  their  glory  shall  ye  boast  yourselves. 

7.  2  For  your  shame  ye  shall  have  double  ; 

And  for  confusion  they  shall  rejoice  in  their  portion  : 
Therefore  in  their  land  they  shall  possess  double ; 
Everlasting  joy  shall  be  unto  them. 

8.  For  I  the  Lord  love  ^  judgement, 

I  hate  robbery  ^  with  iniquity  ; 

1  m.  to  their  glory  shall  ye  succeed  ;  Gr.  in  their  wealth  ye  shall  he  admired.  ^  Gr.  thus 
a  second  time  shall  they  inherit  the  land,  and  everlasting  joy,  etc.  ^  SV  justice.  <  m. 
for  (or  with)  a  burnt  offering ;  AV  for  burnt  offering. 


4.  The  restoration  of  the  dilapidated  city  was  an  object  of 
passionate  longing ;   cf.  58:12;   60:10. 

5  f.  Strangers,  i.e.  the  heathen,  are  to  be  the  servants  of  the 
Jews  —  a  frequently  expressed  hope  (60 :  10)  —  and  their  wealth 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Jews  (cf.  60:  11;  Hag.  2:7).  The  Jews 
themselves  are  to  be  the  priests  of  Jehovah,  i.e.  they  will  have  to 
teach  the  heathen,  regarded  as  the  uninitiated  laity,  how  to  wor- 
ship the  true  God  (cf.  2  Kings  17  :  27).  Boast,  the  word  is  very 
uncertain.  Cheyne  happily  proposes,  "  and  with  their  splendor 
ye  shall  adorn  yourselves." 

7.  The  first  two  clauses,  when  emended,  connect  admirably  with 
the  rest  of  the  verse.     Thus  : 

Because  shame  was  theirs  in  double  measure, 

And  mockery  and  spitting  {i.e.  scorn,  50 :  6)  was  their  lot, 
Therefore,  etc. 

8.  Judgment,  justice.  It  is  Jehovah's  love  of  justice  that  will 
lead  him  to  reverse  the  present  position  of  the  Jews  and  the 
heathen,  who  have  vexed  and  robbed  them.  Robbery  with  in- 
iquity, unjust  robbery,  such  as  heathen  oppressors  had  perpetrated 
upon  the  Jews  (cf.  Neh.  5:  15).      In  truth,  i.e.  faithfully.     The 

392 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  62 :  I 


And  I  will  ^give  them  their  recompence  in  truth, 
And  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  them. 

9.  And  their  seed  shall  be  known  among  the  nations, 
And  their  offspring  among  the  peoples : 
All  that  see  them  shall  acknowledge  them, 

That  they  are  the  seed  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed. 

10.  I  will  greatly  rejoice  in  the  Lord, 

My  soul  shall  be  joyful  in  my  God  ; 
For  he  hath  clothed  me  with  the  garments  of  salvation. 

He  hath  covered  me  with  the  robe  of  ^  righteousness, 
As  a  bridegroom  decketh  himself  with  a  garland, 

And  as  a  bride  adorneth  herself  with  her  jewels.       Rev.  21 : 2 

11.  For  as  the  earth  bringeth  forth  her  bud. 

And  as  the  garden  causeth  the  things  that  are  sown 
in  it  to  spring  forth : 
So  the  Lord  God  will  cause  righteousness  and  praise 
To  spring  forth  before  all  the  nations. 

62.  For  Zion's  sake  will  I  not  hold  my  peace. 
And  for  Jerusalem's  sake  I  will  not  rest, 

1  AV  direct  their  work  in  truth.        2  Gr.  joy. 

security  and  the  reward  are  guaranteed  by  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant (cf.  55:  3)- 

9.  Known,  i.e.  famous.  The  prosperity  of  the  Jews  will  be  so 
conspicuous  that  it  can  only  be  accounted  for  as  Jehovah's  own 
blessing. 

10.  This  verse  seems  to  be  a  glad  shout  of  joy  raised  by  the 
people  in  response  to  the  description  of  their  salvation.  Righteous- 
ness =  salvation  (cf.  62:  i).  Read,  as  a  bridegroom  who  fixes  his 
turban  (same  word  as  in  vs.  3).  The  joy  of  the  bridegroom  and  the 
bride  was  proverbial  (62  :  5  ;  Jer.  2>Z'-  n)- 

11.  For  explains  vs.  9,  not  vs.  10.  The  divine  purpose  to  exalt 
Israel  before  the  world  (cf.  62  :  2)  will  be  as  surely  fulfilled  as  are 
the  great  processes  of  nature. 

62:1.  I,  the  prophet ;  he  will  not  be  silent  until  Zion's  righteous- 

393 


6212  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Until  her  righteousness  go  forth  as  brightness, 
And  her  salvation  as  a  lamp  that  burneth. 

2.  And  the  nations  shall  see  thy  righteousness, 

And  all  kings  thy  glory  : 
Rev.  2 :  17  And  thou  shalt  be  called  by  a  new  name, 

Which  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  shall  name. 

3.  Thou  shalt  also  be  a  crown  of  beauty  in  the  hand  of  the 

Lord, 
And  a  royal  diadem  in  the  hand  of  thy  God. 

4.  Thou  shalt  no  more  be  termed  Forsaken  ; 

Neither  shall  thy  land  any  more  be  termed  Desolate  : 
But  thou  shalt  be  called  Hephzi-bah, 

And  thy  land  Beulah  : 
For  the  Lord  delighteth  in  thee. 

And  thy  land  shall  be  married. 

5.  For  as  a  young  man  marrieth  a  virgin, 

So  shall  thy  sons  marry  thee  : 
And  as  the  bridegroom  rejoiceth  over  the  bride. 
So  shall  thy  God  rejoice  over  thee. 

ness,  i.e.  the  vindication  effected  by  her  salvation,  will  be  clear 
as  noonday. 

2.  Nations  shall  see,  etc.  This  vindication  (vs.  i)  must  be 
visible  and  conspicuous  to  all  the  world.  The  new  name,  indica- 
tive of  a  new  nature  and  character,  is  a  mystery.  The  fact  of 
the  name  being  given  in  vs.  4  has  led  many  scholars  to  regard  the 
last  half  of  vs.  2  as  an  interpolation. 

3.  Tutelary  deities  of  cities  are  frequently  depicted  wearing 
a  mural  crown  on  the  head ;  here  the  crown  is  in  Jehovah's  hand. 
"Jerusalem  is  the  seat  of  Jehovah's  world-wide  sovereignty." 

4  f.  Hephzi-bah  =  my  dehght  is  in  her,  and  Beulah  =  married 
(i.e.  to  Jehovah)  :  for  explains  and  justifies  the  preceding  names. 
Azubah,  which  means  Forsaken,  and  Hephzi-bah  are  actual  names 
of  women  (Jehoshaphat's  mother,  i  Kings  22  :  42,  and  Manasseh's 
mother,  2  Kings  21 :  i).  The  sons  do  not  marry  the  mother, 
therefore  thy  sons  should  no  doubt  be  pointed  to  read  thy  builder, 
i.e.  he  who  builds  up  Jerusalem,  Jehovah  (cf.  Ps.  147 :  2). 

394 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  52  :  10 


6.  I  have  set  watchmen 

Upon  thy  walls,  O  Jerusalem  ; 
They  shall  never  hold  their  peace 

Day  nor  night : 
Ye  that  are  the  Lord's  remembrancers, 

^  Take  ye  no  rest, 

7.  And  give  him  no  ^  rest, 

Till  he  estabhsh. 
And  till  he  make  Jerusalem 
A  praise  in  the  earth. 

8.  The  Lord  hath  sworn  by  his  right  hand. 

And  by  the  arm  of  his  strength, 
''Surely  I  will  no  more  give  thy  ^corn 

To  be  meat  for  thine  enemies  ; 
And  strangers  shall  not  drink  thy  wine, 

For  the  which  thou  hast  laboured  : 

9.  But  they  that  have  garnered  it  shall  eat  it, 

And  praise  the  Lord  ; 
And  they  that  have  gathered  it  shall  drink  it 
In  the  courts  of  my  sanctuary." 

10.  Go  through,  go  through  the  gates  ; 

Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  people  ; 

1  m.  keep  not  silence.    2  Heb.  silence.     SV  grain. 

6  f.  The  watchmen  are  the  angelic  ministers  of  Jehovah,  his 
remembrancers,  whose  duty  it  is  to  put  and  keep  him  in  mind  of 
the  ruined  walls  of  Jerusalem  (cf.  60 :  10),  until  he  again  makes  the 
city  conspicuous  and  honorable. 

8  f .  Judah's  territory  is  no  more  to  be  raided  by  the  enemies  — 
the  Samaritans  and  their  confederates  (Neh.  4:9).  Garnered  it, 
i.e.  the  corn;  gathered  it,  i.e.  grapes,  wine.  The  Jews  would 
praise  Jehovah  at  the  three  great  festivals  (Deut.  16)  in  the  temple 
courts. 

395 


62:  II  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Cast  up,  cast  up  the  high  way  ; 

Gather  out  the  stones  ; 
Lift  up  an  ensign  for  the  peoples. 

11.  Behold,  the  Lord  hath  proclaimed 

Unto  the  end  of  the  earth, 
Say  ye  to  the  daughter  of  Zion, 

Behold,  thy  salvation  cometh  ; 
Behold,  his  reward  is  with  him, 

And  his  recompence  before  him. 

12.  And  they  shall  call  them.  The  Holy  People, 

The  Redeemed  of  the  Lord  ; 
And  thou  shalt  be  called  Sought  Out, 
A  City  not  Forsaken. 

The  Destruction  of  the  Foes  of  Zion  (63  : 1-6) 

63.  "Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom, 

With  ^  dyed  garments  from  Bozrah  ? 

1  m.  crimsoned. 


An  Appeal  to  the  Jews  at  Home  to  prepare  the  Way  for  the  Return 
of  their  Fellow-countrymen  (vss.   10-12) 

This  passage,  brief  as  it  is,  is  strongly  reminiscent  of  Deutero- 
Isaiah. 

10.  The  people  are  urged  to  go  out  through  the  gates  of  Jerusa- 
lem, to  prepare  the  way  (cf .  40  :  3)  for  the  rest  of  the  people  yet  in 
exile.     An  ensign  —  to  which  they  may  rally  (cf.  49  :  22). 

II  f.  Jehovah  hath  proclaimed  the  coming  salvation  (cf.  48  :  20). 
His  reward,  etc.,  cf.  40:  10.  The  holy  people,  the  world's  priests 
(61 :  6).  Sought  out,  much  frequented  —  other  than  in  the  days 
when  no  man  passed  through  thee  (60:  15). 

63  :  1-6.  The  counterpart  of  Zion's  glory  (Chap.  60-62)  is  the 
annihilation  of  all  her  enemies  (63  14).  In  this  striking  passage 
Jehovah,  clad  in  a  garment  stained  red  with  the  blood  of  his  foes, 
is  seen  returning  from  a  victory  which  he  had  won  over  them  single- 
handed  —  a  victory  which  meant  for  Zion  that  the  year  of  her 
complete  redemption  had  come. 

396 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  63:3 


This  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel, 

2  Marching  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength  ?" 

"  I  that  speak  in  righteousness, 
Mighty  to  save." 

2.  "Wherefore  art  thou  red  in  thine  apparel, 

And  thy  garments  hke  him  that  treadeth  in  the 
winefat?" 

3.  ''I  have  trodden  the  wine  press  alone  ; 

And  of  the  peoples  there  was  no  man  with  me : 
Yea,  I  trod  them  in  mine  anger. 
And*  trampled  them  in  my  fury  ; 

2Gr.  om. 

Our  present  Hebrew  text  represents  the  victory  as  won  over 
Edom,  and,  considering  how  deep  was  the  hatred  of  Judah  for 
Edom  after  the  exile  (cf.  Chap.  34),  this  fierce  delight  in  the  defeat 
of  Edom  is  only  too  intelligible  (cf.  Ps.  137:  7).  On  the  other 
hand,  we  should  rather  expect,  as  the  counterpart  and  guarantee 
of  Zion's  glory,  the  destruction  of  all  her  enemies,  and  this  expecta- 
tion is  confirmed  by  vss.  3,  6.  When  to  this  it  is  added  that,  by 
exceedingly  slight  changes,  the  references  to  Edom  and  Bozrah 
disappear,  the  high  probability  must  be  admitted  that  the  pas- 
sage had  originally  the  larger  outlook  upon  all  the  nations  and 
contemplated  their  destruction. 

I.  Who  is  this?  the  question  and  answer  are  finely  dramatic. 
Edom  and  Bozrah  (a  chief  city  of  Edom)  may  be  original,  but  very 
probably  we  should  translate  : 

Who  is  this  that  cometh  all  red, 

With  garments  more  brilliant  than  those  of  a  vintager? 

I :  Jehovah  himself  answers  the  question,  though  the  detail  of  the 
answer  is  by  no  means  certain.  Perhaps  it  means  that  he  not 
only  speaks  of  righteousness,  i.e.  promises  to  vindicate  his  people 
by  punishing  their  adversaries,  but  has  power  to  carry  his  promise 
into  effect. 

2  f.  Again  the  dramatic  question  and  answer.  The  bloody 
slaughter  is  compared  to  the  treading  of  grapes.     No  man,  like 

397 


63 :  4  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


And  their  lifeblood  is  sprinkled  upon  my  garments, 
And  I  have  stained  all  my  raiment. 

4.  For  the  day  of  vengeance  was  in  mine  heart, 

And  Hhe  year  of  my  redeemed  is  come. 

5.  And  I  looked,  and  there  was  none  to  help ; 

And  I  wondered  that  there  was  none  to  uphold : 
Therefore  mine  own  arm  brought  salvation  unto  me  ; 
And  my  ^  fury,  it  upheld  me. 

6.  And  I  trod  down  the  peoples  in  mine  anger, 

And  ^  made  them  drunk  in  my  fury, 
And  I  poured  out  their  hfeblood  on  the  earth." 

Passionate  Prayer  for  the  Divine  Favor 

(63:7-64:12) 

Thanksgiving  for  Ancient  Mercies  (63  :  7-14) 

7.  I  will  make  mention  of  the  lovingkindnesses  of  the 

Lord, 
And  the  praises  of  the  Lord, 

i_m.  my  year  of  redemption.  2  Many  Heb.  MSS.  righteousness  (cf.  59;  16).  3  Heb. 
variant^  brake  them  in  pieces. 

Cyrus,  for  example :  Jehovah  destroyed  Zion's  enemies  without 
human  agency.  The  vision,  though  described  throughout  in  past 
tenses  (read  ''was  sprinkled"),  is  really  of  the  future. 

4.  Vengeance  for  Zion's  enemies,  redemption  for  Zion  (cf.  61 :  2). 

5  f.  Cf.  59:  16.  Made  them  drunk,  read  with  margin,  brake 
them  in  pieces.  The  fierce  attitude  of  this  prophet  to  the  nations 
is  very  unlike  that  of  Deutero-Isaiah,  who  looks  for  their  salva- 
tion (45:  22). 

63  :  7-64  :  1 2.  This  impassioned  prayer  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
passages  in  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament.  Beginning  with  a 
grateful  recognition  of  the  divine  goodness  to  Israel  in  the  days 
gone  by,  it  sorrowfully  asks  where  the  great  Benefactor  is  now,  and 
entreats  him,  in  words  of  tremendous  passion,  to  return  and  mani- 
fest his  ancient  power.  The  sin  of  the  people  has  indeed  been 
great  and  grievous,  but  here  it  is  frankly  confessed,  and  an  appeal 

398 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  63:  7 


According  to  all  that  the  Lord  hath  bestowed  on  us ; 
^  And  the  great  goodness  toward  the  house  of  Israel, 

1  Gr.  The  Lord  is  a  good  judge  to  the  house  of  Israel. 


is  lifted  to  God  in  heaven  to  forgive  and  forget  it,  and  to  look  down 
in  pity  upon  his  sorely  afficted  people. 

The  misery  which  the  prayer  so  vividly  reflects  may  well  be 
that  of  the  period  covered  by  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  prophecy 
(56  ff.)  —  the  period  of  Malachi.  The  only  really  concrete  verses 
in  the  passage,  however  (63:  18  and  64:  10  f.)  create  a  not  in- 
considerable difficulty.  Little  stress,  perhaps,  ought  to  be  laid 
on  63  :  1 8a,  as  the  Hebrew  words  of  our  present  text  are  ambiguous, 
the  Greek  version  is  quite  different,  and  a  plausible  emendation 
has  been  proposed,  which  would  seriously  modify  the  meaning  of 
both  Greek  and  Hebrew;  and  the  case  of  vs.  i8b  is  complicated 
by  the  difficulty  of  determining  whether  trodden  down  has  to  be 
taken  literally  or  figuratively  —  in  other  words,  whether  the 
sanctuary  has  really  been  destroyed  or  only  her  ordinances  and 
worship  treated  with  contempt  (cf.  MaU  i  :  12).  The  other 
reference  (64  :  10  f .)  is  unambiguous,  but  there  is  difficulty  in  fitting 
it  into  our  period.  Judah  in  general  and  Jerusalem  in  particular 
are  a  desolation,  and  the  beautiful  temple  has  been  burned  with 
fire. 

Of  what  period  could  this  be  said?  It  is  not  likely  that  Zerub- 
babel's  temple,  built  by  the  disappointed  and  poverty-stricken 
hands  of  the  returned  exiles  (cf.  Hag.  2:3),  could  be  described  as 
the  "  holy  and  beautiful  house  "  ;  in  any  case,  we  have  no  positive 
information  that  that  temple  was  destroyed  —  that  is  only  an 
inference  from  such  passages  as  Neh.  i  :  3.  The  beautiful  house 
destroyed  must  either,  then,  be  Solomon's  temple,  or  the  second 
temple  at  some  date  later  than  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century. 
If  the  reference  be  to  Solomon's  temple,  then  two  explanations  are 
possible  :  either  the  whole  passage  comes  (if  not  from  the  exile) 
from  some  period  soon  after  the  return,  and  before  the  second 
temple  was  built  (say  about  525  b.c.) — the  objection  to  that 
being  that,  in  point  of  date,  this  prayer  then  falls  out  of  line  with 
the  preceding  chapters  of  the  prophecy  (56  ff.) ;  or,  if  the  date  be 
the  same,  the  insignificant  second  temple  is  simply  ignored,  and 
the  speaker's  imagination  sorrowfully  dwells  on  the  destruction 
of  the  glorious  temple  seventy  years  or  so  before  —  though  this 
explanation  is  distinctly  artificial,  and  out  of  harmony  with  the 
vivid  passion  of  the  words.  There  remains,  however,  the  possi- 
bility that  vss.  10-12  are  later  than  their  context,  and  that  the 

399 


63:8  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Which  he  hath  bestowed  on  ^  them  according  to  his 
mercies, 
And  according  to  the  multitude  of  his  lovingkind- 
nesses. 

8.  For  he  said,  "Surely,  they  are  my  people, 

Children  that  will  not  deal  falsely  "  : 
So  he  was  their  Saviour. 

9.  2  In  all  their  affliction 

He  was  afflicted,  and  the  angel 

Of  his  presence  saved  them  : 
In  his  love  and  in  his  pity 

He  redeemed  them ; 

1  Gr.  us.  2  m.  in  all  their  adversity  he  was  no  adversary ;  Gr.  He  became  to  them 
a  saviour  from  all  their  distress;  it  was  no  messenger,  or  angel,  but  himself  wlw  saved  them. 

beautiful  house  is  the  temple  of  a  later  century.  Cheyne  thinks  of 
its  destruction  —  probable  but  not  proved  —  by  the  Persians, 
about  350  B.C.,  Marti,  of  its  devastation  by  Antiochus  in  170  B.C. 
These  verses  may  easily  have  been  added,  to  make  the  passage 
applicable  to  a  later  situation  ;  and  without  them  the  poem  reaches 
an  artistic  climax  —  behold  look  (64 :  9),  pointing  back  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  prayer,  look  down  from  heaven,  and  behold  (63  :  15). 
This  explanation,  though  not  perhaps  completely  satisfactory, 
appears  to  be  the  most  plausible,  and  has  at  least  the  merit  of  re- 
taining the  passage,  as  a  whole,  within  the  period  of  the  rest  of  the 
prophecy. 

63  :  7-14.  These  verses  look  wistfully  back  to  Jehovah's  good- 
ness to  Israel  in  the  past,  especially  in  the  days  of  Moses. 

7.  Make  mention  of,  i.e.  gratefully  celebrate.  Praises, 
praiseworthy  deeds.  Bestowed  on,  wrought  for.  Read  :  in  accord- 
ance with  all  that  Jehovah,  (so)  rich  in  goodness,  has  wrought  for  us. 
Omit  toward  the  house  of  Israel;  and  for  bestowed  on  them,  read 
wrought  for  us  (so  Gr.). 

8  f .  For  he  said  :  this  carries  us  back  to  the  origin  of  the  people, 
whom  Jehovah  launched  upon  their  national  career  with  high 
hopes  of  their  fidelity.  In  all  their  affliction  should  go  with  vs.  8 ; 
so  he  became  to  them  a  saviour  from  all  their  distress  (so  Gr.) .  He  was 
aMcted,  etc. :  the  Greek  version  supports  another  and  practically 
certain  translation  of  the  Hebrew  consonants  —  it  was  no  envoy  or 
angel,  hut  his  own  presence  that  saved  them.     The  presence,  or  face 

400 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  63 :  12 


And  he  bore  them,  and  carried  them 
All  the  days  of  old. 

10.  But  they  rebelled,  and  grieved 

His  holy  spirit : 
Therefore  he  was  turned  to  be  their  enemy, 
And  himself  fought  against  them. 

11.  Then  he  remembered  the  days  of  old, 

^  Moses,  and  his  people,  saying, 
"  Where  is  he  that  ^  brought  them  up  out  of  the  sea 

With  the  ^  shepherds  of  his  flock  ? 
Where  is  he  that  put  his  holy  spirit 

In  the  midst  of  them  ? 

12.  That  caused  his  glorious  arm  to  go 

At  the  right  hand  of  Moses  ? 
That  divided  the  water  before  them, 

1  Gr.  om.  this  line.  ^  Gr.  brought  up  from  the  sea  the  shepherd  of  the  sheep.  3  Some 
MSS.  sliepherd. 

(cf.  59  :  2),  of  Jehovah,  though  not  quite  identical  with  himself,  is  a 
visible  manifestation  of  him ;  and  the  meaning  practically  is  that, 
in  the  days  of  old,  i.e.  the  days  of  Moses,  Jehovah  came  to  save 
them  in  person,  not  by  proxy. 

ID.  His  holy  spirit,  here  conceived  almost  personally  (note 
grieved)  —  the  spirit  of  divine  leadership  and  direction,  mani- 
fested supremely  through  Moses,  but  also  through  others  (Num. 
11:  16  f.). 

II.  He,  i.e.  Israel,  remembered.  Omit,  vWth  Gr.,  Moses  and 
his  people,  words  which  were  probably  added  to  explain  shepherd 
and  flock  respectively ;  in  their  place  may  originally  have  stood 
something  like  the  years  of  many  generations  (cf.  Deut.  32  :  7). 
The  next  sentence,  which  should  read  Where  is  he  that  brought  up 
(so  Gr.)  from  the  sea  the  shepherd  of  his  flock?  {i.e.  Moses),  refers 
either  to  the  divine  protection  of  the  infant  Moses  (in  which  case 
the  sea  =  t\it  Nile,  cf.  18:2;  19  :  5),  or  to  deliverance  from  the  per- 
ils of  the  Red  Sea.  The  holy  spirit  (cf.  vs.  10)  was  present  in  the 
midst  of  them  chiefly  in  the  person  of  Moses. 

12-14.  His  glorious  arm,  etc. :  the  reference  is  to  the  wonderful 
power  with  which  Moses  was  endowed,  symboHzed  by  his  rod 
(Exod.  17:9).  Divided  the  water  of  the  Red  Sea,  through  whose 
2D  401 


63 :  13  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


To  make  himself  an  everlasting  name? 

13.  That  led  them  through  the  depths, 

As  an  horse  in  the  wilderness, 
That  they  stumbled  not  ? 

14.  As  the  cattle  that  go  down  into  the  valley, 
The  spirit  of  the  Lord  ^  caused  them  to  rest : 

So  didst  thou  lead  thy  people, 
To  make  thyself  a  glorious  name." 

Passionate  Entreaty  for  the  Divine  Forgiveness  and  Pity 
(63:15-64:12) 

15.  Look  down  from  heaven,  and  behold 

From  the  habitation  of  thy  hoHness  and  of  thy  glory  : 
Where  is  thy  zeal  and  thy  mighty  acts  ? 
The  yearning  of   thy  bowels  and   thy  compassions 
are  restrained  ^  toward  me. 

16.  For  thou  art  our  father,  though  Abraham  knoweth 

us  not, 
And  Israel  doth  not  acknowledge  us  : 

1  Gr.  guided  them.        2  q^.  from  us. 

depths  they  walked  as  firmly  as  a  horse  on  the  pasture-land,  and 
down  whose  banks  (regarded  as  steep,  like  the  Dead  Sea)  they 
wandered  as  securely  as  the  cattle  that  go  down  from  the  uplands  to 
the  valley  (this  clause  goes  better  with  vs.  13),  the  spirit  of  Jehovah 
guiding  them  (rather  than  caused  them  to  rest). 

15  f.  In  the  light  of  the  divine  leadership  and  love  shown  to  the 
people  in  the  old  days  of  Moses  (vss.  7-14)  where  is  thy  zeal 
now?  Instead  of  are  restrained  toward  me,  read  do  not  refrain 
(cf.  64:  12).  But  this  clause  and  the  next, — for  thou  art  our 
father,  —  which  awkwardly  anticipates  the  third  clause  of  vs.  16, 
are  probably  later  insertions.  Abraham  and  Israel,  i.e.  Jacob, 
may  have  been  regarded  by  the  prophet's  contemporaries  as  semi- 
divine,  capable  of  sympathizing  with  and  helping  them  in  their 
distress.  The  prophet,  in  dispelling  this  illusion,  indirectly  re- 
minds the  people  that  their  real  help  and  redemption  are  to  be 

402 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISMAH  64:1 


Thou,  O  Lord,  art  our  father  ; 

Our  redeemer  from  everlasting  is  thy  name. 

17.  O  Lord,  why  dost  thou  make  us  to  err  from  thy  ways, 

And  hardenest  our  heart  from  thy  fear  ? 
Return  for  thy  servants'  sake, 
^The  tribes  of  thine  inheritance. 

18.  2  Thy  holy  people  possessed  it  but  a  Httle  while  : 

Our  adversaries  have  trodden  down  thy  sanctuary. 

19.  ^We  are  become  as  they  over  whom  thou  never  barest 

rule : 
As  they  that  were  not  called  by  thy  name. 

64.  "^Oh  that  thou  wouldest  rend  the  heavens,  that  thou 
wouldest  come  down, 

1  Gr.  for  the  sake  of  the  tribes,  etc.  2  Gr.  that  we  may  inherit  a  little  of  thy  holy  moun- 
tain. 3  Gr.  we  are  become  as  of  old,  when  thou  didst  not  rule  over  us,  neither  was  thy 
name  called  upon  us.  *  Gr.  if  thou  shouldst  open  the  heaven,  trembling  at  thee  will  take 
the  mountains,  and  they  shall  melt  as  wax  melts  before  fire,  and  fire  shall  burn  up  the  ad- 
versaries, and  thy  name  shall  be  manifest  among  the  adversaries. 

found  in  their  God,  for  he  is  their  Father,  i.e.  the  Father  of  the 
nation  (cf.  Exod.  4:  22). 

17.  Before  the  tribes,  insert,  with  Gr.,  for  the  sake  of. 

18.  Possessed  it:  what?  perhaps  the  sanctuary  —  but  the  word 
is  unrepresented  in  the  Hebrew,  and  the  text  may  be  doubted. 
Adopting  two  hints  of  the  Greek  version,  we  may  translate : 
but  a  little  while  have  we  had  possession  of  thy  holy  hill  —  i.e.  the 
temple  hill.  The  reference  could  not  be  to  Solomon's  temple,  as 
that  had  stood  for  nearly  four  hundred  years.  Even  if  we  sup- 
pose the  little  while  to  describe  the  seventy  years  between  the 
building  of  the  second  temple  and  the  probable  date  of  this  proph- 
ecy, we  have  no  positive  proof  that  that  temple  was  destroyed, 
trodden  on,  during  this  period.  These  considerations  lend  some 
plausibility  to  the  brilliant  conjectural  reading  : 

Why  do  the  ungodly  make  light  of  thy  holy  place, 
Our  adversaries  desecrate  thy  sanctuary? 
and  the  reference  would  be  to  the  Samaritan  party  with  their  ad- 
herents in  Jerusalem  and  the  neighborhood  (so  Marti). 

19  f.  The  fortunes  of  the  Jews  have  fallen  so  low  that  for  long 
it  has  not  seemed  as  if  they  were  the  subjects  of  such  a  king  as 

403 


64:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


That  the  mountains  might  ^  flow  down  at  thy  pres- 
ence ; 

2.  As  when  fire  kindleth  the  brushwood, 

And  the  fire  causeth  the  waters  to  boil : 
To  make  thy  name  known  to  thine  adversaries, 
That  the  nations  may  tremble  at  thy  presence  ! 

3.  When  thou  didst  terrible  things  which  we  looked  not  for. 

Thou  camest  down,  the  mountains  flowed  down  at 
thy  presence. 

4.  For  from  of  old  men  have  not  heard, 

I  Cor.  2 : 9  Nor  perceived  by  the  ear, 

Neither  hath  the  eye  seen 
A  God  beside  thee, 

2  Which  worketh  for  him  that  waiteth  for  him. 

5.  ^Thou  meetest  him  that  rejoiceth  and  worketh  right- 

eousness, 
Those  that  remember  thee  in  thy  ways : 
Behold,  thou  wast  wroth,  and  we  sinned : 
^  In  them  have  we  been  of  long  time,  and  shall  we  be 
saved  ? 

1  m.  SV  quake.  2  Gr.  and  thy  works  which  thou  wilt  perform  for  those  who  wait  for 
thy  mercy.  ^  Gr.  For  these  things  shall  befall  those  who  work  righteousness,  and  they  shall 
remember  thy  ways.  *  Gr.  therefore  we  have  erred  ;  m.  AY  in  those  is  continttance,  and  we 
shall  be  saved. 

Jehovah  at  all,  and  some  divine  intervention  is  necessary  —  a 
descent  through  the  rent  heavens  which  would  make  the  mountains 
quake  (see  margin). 

2.  This  verse  describes  the  manner  and  the  object  of  the  the- 
ophany. 

3,  4a.  Omit  thou  camest  down  .  .  .  presence  (an  erroneous  repe- 
tition of  the  latter  half  of  vs.  i),  and  read : 

When  thou  didst  terrible  things  {i.e.  to  the  enemy)  which  we  looked 
not  for, 
And  whereof  from  of  old  men  had  not  heard. 

4b,  5.  With   hints   from   the    Greek   version,   and   conjectural 
404 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  64:9 


6.  For  we  are  all  become  as  one  that  is  unclean, 

And  all  our  righteousnesses  are  as  a  polluted  garment : 
And  we  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf ; 

And  our  iniquities,  hke  the  wind,  take  us  away. 

7.  And  there  is  none  that  calleth  upon  thy  name. 

That  stirreth  up  himself  to  take  hold  of  thee  ; 
For  thou  hast  hid  thy  face  from  us. 
And  hast  ^  consumed  us  by  means  of  our  iniquities. 

8.  But  now,  O  Lord,  thou  art  our  father ; 

We  are  the  clay. 
And  thou  our  potter  ; 

And  we  are  all  the  work  of  thy  hand. 

9.  Be  not  wroth  very  sore,  O  Lord, 

Neither  remember  iniquity  for  ever  : 
Behold,  look,  we  beseech  thee. 
We  are  all  thy  people. 

1  m.  melted;  Gr.  Syr.  Tar.  delivered  us   into  the  hand  of,  etc. 


emendation,  this  somewhat  difficult  passage  may  be  provisionally- 
rendered  as  follows : 

Ear  hath  not  heard, 

Eye  hath  not  seen, 
Thy  deeds  and  mighty  acts  which  thou  wilt  do 

For  those  who  wait  for  thee. 
Oh  that  thou  wotdd'st  meet  those  who  work  righteousness, 

Who  remember  thy  ways  {i.e.,  thy  commandments). 
But,  behold!  thou  wast  wroth,  and  we  sinned, 
{Wroth)  at  our  deeds,  and  we  became  guilty. 

6  f .  Everywhere  is  corruption  and  decay,  and  religion  is  as  good 
as  dead.  Hast  consumed,  etc.,  read,  with  margin,  hast  delivered 
us  into  the  power  of. 

8  f.  Prayer  for  pity.  Father,  cf.  63 :  16.  The  potter  will 
surely  care  for  the  clay  which  he  has  so  skilfully  and  lovingly 
fashioned.  Behold,  look  points  back  to  63 :  15,  and  perhaps 
originally  closed  the  poem  (see  p.  396). 

405 


64 :  10  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


10.  Thy  holy  cities  are  become  a  wilderness, 

Zion  is  become  a  wilderness,  Jerusalem  a  desolation. 

11.  Our  holy  and  our  beautiful  house, 

Where  our  fathers  praised  thee, 
Is  burned  with  fire  ; 

And  all  our  pleasant  things  are  laid  waste. 

12.  Wilt  thou  refrain  thyself  for  these  things,  O  Lord? 

Wilt  thou  hold  thy  peace,  and  afflict  us  very  sore  ? 

The  Blessedness  of  the  Faithful  and  the  Doom  of 
THE  Apostates  (65  :  1-66  :  24) 

The  Fate  oj  the  Apostates  (65  :  1-7) 

Rom.  10:   65.  I  lam  inquired  of  by  them  that  asked  not  for  me; 
I  ^  am  found  of  them  that  sought  me  not : 
I  said,  "Behold  me,  behold  me," 

Unto  a  nation  that  ^  was  not  called  by  my  name. 

2.  I  have  spread  out  my  hands  all  the  day 
Unto  a  rebellious  ^people, 

1  m.  was.       2  Qr.  gyj-.  Vg.  Tar.  called  not  on.        ^  Gr.  and  disobedient  people. 

10-12.  The  historical  setting  of  these  verses  is  hard  to  deter- 
mine; see  p.  395.  Cities,  i.e.  of  Judah.  The  temple  is  the  house 
of  praise,  as  of  prayer  (56 :  7).  Pleasant  tilings,  places  with  hal- 
lowed associations. 

Chaps.  65  and  66.  Earlier  chapters  (cf.  57)  have  revealed  the 
Jewish  community  of  the  period  as  sharply  divided  into  two  classes 
—  the  strict  legal  party,  representing  generally  the  religious 
ideals  and  practices  of  the  returned  exiles,  and  the  pro-Samaritan 
party,  whose  religion,  perpetuating  ancient  superstitions  and  in- 
fected by  the  rehgions  of  the  neighboring  peoples,  was  of  a  dis- 
tinctly pagan  and  degraded  type.  In  the  closing  chapters  of  the 
book,  the  prophet  vividly  portrays  the  respective  destinies  in 
store  for  both  these  classes  —  for  the  one,  long  and  happy  life 
in  a  renovated  world ;   for  the  other,  a  fearful  and  accursed  doom. 

I,  2.  These  verses  describe  the  indifference  of  the  rebellious 
406 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  65:4 


Which  walketh  in  a  way  that  is  not  good, 
After  their  own  thoughts  ; 

3.  A  people  that  provoketh  me 

To  my  face  continually, 
Sacrificing  in  gardens, 

And  burning  incense  upon  bricks ; 

4.  *  Which  sit  among  the  graves, 

And  lodge  in  the  ^  secret  places ;  ^ 
Which  eat  swine's  flesh. 

And  broth  of  abominable  things  is  in  their  vessels  ; 

1  Gr.  To  the  demons  which  do  not  exist.  2  Gr.  caves.  '  Gr.  adds  for  the  sake  of 
securing  dreams. 

people  —  i.e.  the  Jews  whose  practices  are  described  in  vss.  3-5  — 
to  the  divine  appeal.  We  may  reasonably  infer  from  these  verses 
that  the  attitude  of  the  stricter  party  was  at  first  not  so  exclusive 
as  it  afterwards  became ;  they  had  been  forced  into  their  exclusive 
policy  by  the  refusal  of  their  idolatrous  and  rebellious  brethren  to 
accept  the  stricter  ideals  they  had  sought  to  impose.  The  out- 
stretched hands  had  been  rejected. 

I  am  inquired  of  .  .  . :  /  allowed  myself  to  he  inquired  of,  i.e. 
was  ready  to  answer,  those  who  asked  me  (so  Gr.)  not,  and  to  let 
myself  he  found,  etc.  A  nation,  not  a  foreign  nation,  but  the  re- 
bellious Jewish  people  that  did  not  call  upon  my  name  (so  Gr.  and 
margin)  —  described  in  the  following  verses.  A  rebellious 
people  :  an  unruly  and  disobedient  people  (so  Gr.  and  Rom.  10 :  21), 
which  refused  to  walk  in  the  good  way  of  the  law. 

3,  4.  These  verses  aflford  an  interesting  glimpse  into  the  religious 
usages  which  persisted  even  in  post-exilic  Judaism,  and  provoked 
Jehovah  to  his  face.  Gardens,  sacred  groves  (cf.  i :  29).  Bricks, 
whether  of  roofs  (cf.  Zeph.  i  :  5)  or  altars ;  the  allusion  is  very  ob- 
scure, and  may  not  impossibly  be,  by  a  change  in  the  pointing,  to 
some  form  of  tree-worship. 

4.  The  sitting  in  the  graves  was  no  doubt  intended  to  secure  an 
oracle  from  the  dead,  who  were  supposed,  like  the  dead  Samuel 
(i  Sam.  28),  to  have  a  knowledge  of  the  future.  Similarly  they 
lodged,  i.e.  passed  the  night,  in  secret  places,  as  Gr.  correctly 
explains,  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  dreams,  i.e.  dream-oracles. 
They  eat  swine's  flesh  —  forbidden  by  law  (Deut.   14:8)  —  in 

407 


65:5 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


5.  Which  say,  *' Stand  by  thyself, 

Come  not  near  to  me,  for  ^I  am  hoUer  than  thou"  ; 
These  are  a  smoke  in  my  nose, 
A  fire  that  burneth  all  the  day. 

6.  Behold,  it  is  written  before  me  : 

I  will  not  keep  silence,  ^  but  will  recompense, 
Yea,  I  will  recompense  into  their  bosom, 

7.  ^  Your  own  iniquities,  and  the   iniquities    of    ^  your 

fathers  together, 
Saith  the  Lord, 

Which  have  burned  incense  upon  the  mountains, 

And  ^  blasphemed  me  upon  the  hills  : 
Therefore  will  I  ^  first  measure 

Their  work  into  their  bosom. 

The  Destiny  of  the  Faithful  in  the  Impending  Judgment 
(65:8-12) 

8.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 

As  the  new  wine  is  found  in  the  cluster, 

1  Gr.  /  am  pure.  2  Gr.  till  I  have  recompensed  into,  etc.  ^  Gr.  Syr.  their.  *  m. 
defied.     ^  Gr.  om. 

mystic  rites.     Abominable  things,  probably  unclean  animals,  like 
mice  (cf.  66  :  17). 

5.  I  am  holier  than  thou:  rather,  or  else  I  shall  sanctify  thee. 
Any  one  who  ventures  within  the  circle  of  the  initiated  during  these 
strange  and  superstitious  performances  will  be  infected  with  the 
holiness  of  the  whole  group  —  hohness  here  being  purely  physical, 
not  ethical,  and  practically  =  taboo.  These  idolaters  provoke 
the  anger  of  Jehovah,  which  will  issue  in  smoke  and  flame. 

6  f .  It,  i.e.  the  record  of  their  sin,  is  written  in  the  memorials  of 
heaven.  Transfer  yea,  I  will  recompense  in  vs.  6  (omitting  into 
their  bosom)  to  the  end  of  vs.  7,  after  work.  Read  their  iniquities 
and  their  fathers.  Mountains  .  .  .  hills :  the  reference  is  to  the 
illegitimate  worship  upon  the  high  places.  For  work  read 
recompense.  I  will  first  measure  their  recompense  and  requite  it 
(see  vs.  6)  into  their  bosom. 

408 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  65;  12 


And  one  saith,  "Destroy  it  not, 

For  a  blessing  is  in  it"  : 
So  will  I  do  for  my  ^  servants'  sakes, 

That  I  may  not  destroy  them  all. 
9.  And  I  will  bring  forth  a  seed  out  of  Jacob, 

And  out  of  Judah  an  inheritor  of  my  mountains  : 
And  my  chosen  shall  inherit  it. 

And  my  servants  shall  dwell  there. 

10.  And  Sharon  shall  be  a  ^  fold  of  flocks. 

And  the  valley  of  Achor  a  place  for  herds  to  lie  down 

in, 
For  my  people  that  have  sought  me. 

11.  But  ye  that  forsake  the  Lord, 

That  forget  my  holy  mountain, 
That  prepare  a  table  for  ^  Fortune, 

And  that  fill  up  mingled  wine  unto  ^  Destiny  ; 

12.  I  will  destine  you  to  the  sword. 

And  ye  shall  all  bow  down  to  the  slaughter  : 


1  Gr.  and  some  Heb.  MSS.  servant's,    ^m.  pasture.    ^Heb.  Gad ;  Gt.  the  demon. 
Heb.  Meni;  Gr.  Fortune. 


8-10.  Just  as  the  cluster  is  not  destroyed,  if  there  be  some  good 
grapes  upon  it,  so,  for  the  sake  of  Jehovah's  faithful  servants, 
neither  will  the  whole  nation  be  exterminated.  Throughout  this 
chapter  the  faithful  are  frequently  called  my  servants,  and  they 
are  rewarded  with  secure  possession  of  the  motmtain  land  of  Pales- 
tine, in  its  length  and  breadth  —  from  Sharon,  the  plain  between 
Carmel  and  Joppa,  to  the  valley  of  Achor  near  Jericho.  Probably 
the  last  sentence  of  vs.  10,  which  is  metrically  superfluous,  is  a 
later  insertion. 

II,  12.  In  contrast  with  this  happy  destiny  of  the  faithful  will 
be  the  bloody  doom  of  the  idolaters  who  forget  my  holy  mountain, 
ignoring  the  exclusive  claims  of  Jerusalem,  and  worshipping  else- 
where (vss.  3f.).  Fortune  {Gad)  and  Destiny  {Meni)  were  West- 
Semitic  deities,  in  whose  cult  these  apostate  Jews  participated. 
Tables  were  spread  for  the  gods  (cf.  i  Cor.  10:  21),  with  bread 
(cf.  Exod.  25  :  30)  and  wine  in  accordance  with  a  fashion  common 

409 


65  :  13  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


Because  when  I  called,  ye  did  not  answer ; 

When  I  spake,  ye  did  not  hear  ; 
But  ye  did  that  which  was  evil  in  mine  eyes, 

And  chose  that  wherein  I  deUghted  not. 

The  Great  Contrast  (65  :  13-16) 

13.  Therefore  thus  saith 

The  Lord  God, 
Behold,  my  servants  shall  eat, 
But  ye  shall  be  hungry  : 

Behold,  my  servants  shall  drink, 

But  ye  shall  be  thirsty  : 
Behold,  my  servants  shall  rejoice, 

But  ye  shall  be  ashamed  : 

14.  Behold,  my  servants  shall  sing 

For  joy  of  heart. 
But  ye  shall  cry  for  sorrow  of  heart. 
And  shall  howl  for  ^  vexation  of  spirit. 

15.  And  ye  shall  leave  your  name 

For  2  a  curse  unto  my  chosen, 

iHeb.  breaking.        2  jjeb.  an  oath;  Gr.  satiety  (loathing?). 

in  the  ancient  world.  The  last  sentence  of  vs.  12,  hut  ye  did  .  .  . 
not,  has  probably  been  inserted  from  66  :  4. 

This  deliberate  worship  of  foreign  gods,  coupled  with  the  prac- 
tice of  necromancy  and  the  other  mystic,  superstitious,  and  illegal 
rites  alluded  to  in  vss.  3  f.,  sheds  a  very  lurid  light  on  the  religious 
conditions  which  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  the  reforming  party  had 
to  face,  and  goes  a  long  way  to  justify  their  severe  and  exclusive 
policy. 

13  f.  The  fourfold  contrast  beginning  Behold,  my  servants,  is 
very  impressive.  Ye,  apostates,  whose  conduct  has  just  been  de- 
scribed. 

15.  A  curse,  i.e.  a  formula  of  imprecation,  a  specimen  of  which 
410 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  65 :  18 


And  the  Lord  God  shall  slay  ^  thee  ; 
And  he  shall  call  his  servants 
By  another  name : 

16.  So  that  he  who  blesseth  himself  in  the  earth  shall  bless 

himself 
In  the  God  of  truth  ; 
And  he  that  sweareth  in  the  earth  shall  swear 
By  the  God  of  truth  ; 

Because  the  former  troubles  are  forgotten, 
And  because  they  are  hid  from  mine  eyes. 

The  Glorious  Future  (65  :  17-25) 

17.  For,  behold,  I  create  new  heavens  2  Pet.  3 :  13 

A     J  •      i.i_  Rev.  21 : 1 

And  a  new  earth : 

And  the  former  things  shall  not  be  remembered,  Rev.  21 : 4 

Nor  come  into  mind. 

18.  But  2  be  ye  glad  and  rejoice  for  ever 

In  that  which  I  create. 

For,  behold,  I  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing, 
And  her  people  a  joy. 

1  Gr.  you.        2  q^.  they  shall  find  gladness  and  rejoicing  in  her. 

is  given  in  the  next  clause  (read  May  the  Lord  Jehovah  slay  thee). 
Another  name,  corresponding  to  their  high  blessedness. 

16.  The  meaning  is  that  Jehovah  will  have  shown  himself  to 
be  a  God  of  truth,  i.e.  of  faithfulness,  fulfilling  alike  his  promises 
and  threats,  so  that  he  who  invokes  a  blessing  for  himself  in  the 
land  shall  invoke  it  by  the  god  of  truth;  i.e.  shall  say,  "  May  the  God 
of  truth  bless  me." 

17  f.  New  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  i.e.  a  new  universe;  and 
this  will  be  the  guarantee  that  the  former  thmgs,  i.e.  troubles 
(vs.  16),  will  be  remembered  no  more.  Be  ye  glad  should  be  they 
shall  be  glad. 

411 


65 :  19  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


19.  And  I  will  rejoice  in  Jerusalem, 

And  joy  in  my  people. 

Rev.  21 : 4  And  the  voice  of  weeping  shall  be  no  more  heard  in 

her, 
Nor  the  voice  of  cr3dng. 

20.  There  shall  be  no  more  thence 

An  infant  of  days, 

Nor  an  old  man  that  hath  not  filled 

His  days  : 
For  the  child  shall  die  an  hundred  years  old, 

And  the  sinner  being  an  hundred  years  old  shall  be 
accursed, 

21.  And  they  shall  build  houses,  and  inhabit  them  ; 

And  they  shall  plant  vineyards,  and  eat  the  fruit  of 
them. 

22.  They  shall  not  build,  and  another  inhabit ; 

They  shall  not  plant,  and  another  eat : 

For  as  the  days  of  ^  a  tree  shall  be  the  days  of  my  people, 
And  my  chosen  shall  ^long  enjoy  the  work  of  their 
hands. 

1  Gr.  Tar.  the  tree  of  life.        2  Heb.  wear  out. 

20.  Human  life  shall  be  prolonged  to  an  age  that  will  recall  the 
patriarchal  days.  Infant  of  a  few  days.  For  the  child,  read  the 
youngest:  a  hundred  years  would  be  a  short  life.  The  sinner 
(omit  being  an  hundred  years)  shall  be  accursed,  i.e.  cut  off  by 
the  curse.  In  those  days  there  will  be  no  sinners  :  the  people  shall 
he  all  righteous  (60  :  21). 

21  f.  Those  days  would  be  marked  by  material  prosperity  and 
security;  and,  human  life  being  so  long,  men  would  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  their  toil. 

412 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  66  :  I 


23.  They  shall  not  labour  in  vain, 

Nor  bring  forth  for  ^  calamity  ; 

For  they  are  the  seed  of  the  blessed  of  the  Lord, 
And  their  offspring  ^  with  them. 

24.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that,  before  they  call,  I  will 

answer ; 
And  while  they  are  yet  speaking,  I  will  hear. 

25.  The  wolf  and  the  lamb  shall  feed  together, 

And  the  Hon  shall  eat  straw  Uke  the  ox  : 
And  dust  shall  be  the  serpent's  meat. 
They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy 

In  all  my  holy  mountain,  saith  the  Lord. 

Doom  pronounced  upon  those  who  purpose  to  Build  a  Rival 
Temple  (66  :  1-4) 

66.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  The  heaven  is  my  throne. 

And  the  earth  is  my  footstool :  Mat.  5: 34!. 

^  What  manner  of  house  will  ye  build  unto  me  ?  ^*^*^  ^  •  ^^ 
*  And  what  place  shall  be  my  rest  ? 

1  m.  sudden  terror.  2  m.  shall  be  with  them.  ^  AY  where  is  the  house,  etc.  <  AV 
where  is  the  place,  etc. 

23.  Bring  forth  children  for  calamity,  i.e.  sudden  destruction. 
Life  being  so  long,  many  generations  of  their  offspring  would  be 
with  them  (see  margin) . 

24  f.  Prayer  will  be  instantly  answered,  prosperity  will  every- 
where reign,  and  even  in  the  animal  world  there  will  be  peace 
(cf .  1 1  :  6-8) .  Omit  and  dust  shall  he  the  serpent's  meat,  a,  clause 
added  to  show  that  the  serpent  was  not  to  be  exempted  from  its 
ancient  curse  (Gen.  3  :  14). 

66:  1-4.  The  schismatic  Jews  —  "rebels  against  Jehovah,"  as 
they  are  called  in  vs.  24  —  whose  conduct  was  so  vividly  portrayed 
in  the  preceding  chapter  (65  :  3-5,  11),  as  also  in  this  (66  :  3,  17  f.), 
appear  to  have  cherished  the  design  of  building  a  rival  temple  to 
that  of  Jerusalem  —  a  design  later  accomplished  by  the  Samaritans 

413 


66:2  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


2.  For  all  these  things  hath  mine  hand  made, 

^  And  so  all  these  things  came  to  be,  saith  the  Lord  : 

But  to  this  man  will  I  look,  even  to  him  that  is  poor 

And  of  a  contrite  spirit,  and  that  trembleth  at  my  word. 

3.  He  that  killeth  an  ox  is  as  he  that  slayeth  a  man ; 

He  that  sacrificeth  a  lamb,  as  he  that  breaketh  a 

dog's  neck ; 
He  that  offereth  ^  an  oblation,  as  he  that  ofereth  swine's 

blood ; 
He  that  ^  burneth  frankincense,  as  he  that  blesseth 

an  idol. 

1  Gr.  Syr.  all  these  things  are  mine.    2  m.  meal  offering.    ^  Heb.  maketh  a  memorial  of. 

on  mount  Gerizim.  This  section  embodies  the  prophet's  protest. 
The  striking  language  of  the  first  two  verses  might  easily  and  natu- 
rally be  interpreted  as  a  challenge  to  all  sacred  buildings,  and  a 
plea  for  a  purely  spiritual  worship  (cf.  Jn.  4:  21);  the  infinite 
God  needs  no  house  made  with  hands,  therefore  not  even  the  Je- 
rusalem temple.  But  other  verses  of  the  chapter  show  that  the 
temple  is  not  only  respected,  but  is  presupposed,  with  its  ritual 
and  its  officers,  as  an  eternal  element  in  the  Jerusalem  of  the 
regenerated  world  (66:6,  20-23).  The  passage  can  therefore 
only  be  interpreted  as  a  protest  against  the  proposed  schismatic 
temple. 

1 .  The  earth  is  my  footstool :  in  particular  the  Jerusalem  sanc- 
tuary was  the  "place  of  his  feet"  (60:  13),  and  no  other  house 
for  him  could  be  tolerated. 

2.  Poor,  afflicted;  contrite,  crushed;  my  word,  the  law.  This 
clause  describes  the  strict  Jews,  who  respect  the  law  and  worship 
at  the  temple. 

3  f .  Render  : 

He  who  slaughters  an  ox  is  also  the  slayer  of  a  man, 

He  who  sacrifices  a  sheep  is  also  the  strangler  of  dogs, 
He  who  brings  an  oblation  is  also  one  who  pours  out  swine's  blood, 

He  who  offers  memorial  incense  is  also  one  who  blesses  idols : 
As  these  have  chosen  their  own  ways, 

And  their  soul  delights  in  their  abominations. 
So  will  I  also  choose  wanton  insults  for  them. 

And  bring  what  they  dread  upon  them. 
414 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  66:6 


Yea,  they  have  chosen  their  own  ways, 

And  their  soul  deUghteth  in  their  abominations ; 

4.  I  also  will  choose  their  ^  delusions. 

And  will  bring  their  fears  upon  them ; 

Because  when  I  called,  none  did  answer ; 

When  I  spake,  they  did  not  hear  : 
But  they  did  that  which  was  evil  in  mine  eyes, 

And  chose  that  wherein  I  delighted  not. 

The  Faithful  Cheered  by  the  Promise  of  Zioti's  Prosperity 
(66  :  5-14) 

5.  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord, 

Ye  that  tremble  at  his  word : 
Your  brethren  that  hate  you. 
That  cast  you  out  for  my  name's  sake,  have  said, 

''Let  the  Lord  be  glorified, 
That  we  may  see  your  joy"  ; 

But  they  shall  be  ashamed. 

6.  A  voice  of  tumult  from  the  city, 

A  voice  from  the  temple.  Rev.  16:  x 

1  m.  mockings. 

The  meaning  is  that  their  affected  worship  of  Jehovah  goes  hand 
in  hand  with  rank  idolatry ;  the  men  who  offer  —  legitimately 
enough  —  oxen,  sheep,  and  meal  offerings  with  incense  (cf .  Lev. 
2  :  2)  are  guilty  of  human  sacrifice,  and  of  participation  in  idola- 
trous and  abominable  rites  which  involved  the  recognition  of  the 
sacredness  of  the  dog  and  the  swine  (cf.  65:4).  when  I  called, 
etc.  :  cf.  65  :  12. 

5.  Tremble,  etc. ;  cf.  vs.  2.  Your  brethren,  the  idolatrous  Jews 
of  vs.  3.  For  my  name's  sake:  the  hostility  was  religious  in  its 
origin.  These  apostates  mock  the  hopes  of  their  pious  "breth- 
ren," and  their  words  are  sarcastic,  Let  Jehovah  manifest  his  glory, 
etc. 

6.  Jehovah  hears  their  sarcastic  challenge,  and  renders  them 

415 


66:7  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


A  voice  of  the  Lord  that  rendereth 
Recompence  to  his  enemies. 

7.  Before  she  travailed, 

She  brought  forth ; 
Before  her  pain  came, 

She  was  deUvered  of  a  man  child. 

8.  Who  hath  heard  such  a  thing  ? 

Who  hath  seen  such  things  ? 
Shall  a  land  be  born 

In  one  day  ? 
Shall  a  nation  be  brought  forth 

At  once  ? 
For  as  soon  as  Zion  travailed,  she  brought  forth 

Her  children. 

9.  Shall  I  bring  to  the  birth,  and  not  cause  to  bring  forth  ? 

Saith  the  Lord  : 
Shall  I  that  cause  to  bring  forth  shut  the  womb? 
Saith  thy  God. 
10.  ^  Rejoice  ye  with  Jerusalem,  and  be  glad  for  her, 
All  ye  that  love  her  : 

^  Gr.  rejoice,  0  Jerusalem,  and  hold  in  her  a  festal  assembly  all  ye  who  love  her. 

fearful  recompense.  Hark!  a  tumult  from  the  city  —  "the  city 
where  they  had  mockingly  cried  for  God's  glory  to  appear" 
(G.  A.  Smith)  —  hark!  from  the  temple:  hark!  it  is  Jehovah 
himself  issuing  forth  to  punish  his  enemies. 

7-9.  These  verses  describe  the  speedy  and  miraculous  increase 
of  Zion,  no  doubt  through  the  return  of  her  scattered  children 
(49  :  17-21)  —  a  picture  that  appropriately  follows  the  destruction 
of  her  enemies. 

She  (vs.  7),  Zion.  For  a  land  (vs.  8)  read  the  people  of  a  land. 
Vs.  9  means  that  the  great  work  of  restoration  would  assuredly 
be  brought  to  complete  fruition. 

10  f.  Read  Rejoice,  Jerusalem.  For  that  ye  may  milk  out,  etc., 
416 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISMAH 


Rejoice  for  joy  with  her, 
All  ye  that  mourn  over  her  : 

11.  That  ye  may  suck  and  be  satisfied 

With  the  breasts  of  her  consolations  ; 
That  ye  milk  out,  and  be  dehghted 
With  the  abundance  of  her  glory. 

12.  For  thus  saith  the  Lord, 

Behold,  I  will  extend 
Peace  to  her  like  a  river. 
And  the  glory  of   the  nations  like  an  overflowing 
stream, 
^  And  ye  shall  suck  thereof ;  ye  shall  be  borne  upon  the 
side. 
And  shall  be  dandled  upon  the  knees. 

13.  As  one  whom  his  mother  comforteth, 

So  will  I  comfort  you ;   and  ye  shall  be  comforted 
in  Jerusalem. 

14.  And  ye  shall  see  it,  and  your  heart  shall  rejoice, 

And  your  bones  shall  flourish  Hke  the  tender  grass  : 
And  the  hand  of  the  Lord  shall  be  known  toward  his 
serA^ants, 
And  he  will  have  indignation  against  his  enemies. 

1  Gr.  their  children  shall  be  borne  upon  the  shoulders. 


read,  that  ye  may  drain  with  delight  her  rich  mother-hosom.  As  a 
mother  her  sucking  child,  so  one  day  would  Zion  soothe  and  com- 
fort her  faithful  children. 

12.  Here,  as  in  60 :  5  ;  61  :  6,  the  resources  of  the  Gentiles  are  to 
be  made  contributory  to  the  welfare  of  Israel.  Peace,  almost  = 
prosperity.  Like  a  river,  cf.  48  :  18.  For  and  ye  shall  suck,  etc., 
read,  with  Gr.,  and  your  children  shall  he  home  upon  the  side,  i.e. 
of  the  Gentiles  (cf.  49  :  22  ;   60 :  4),  and  dandled  upon  their  knees. 

13.  Whom  his  mother  comforteth  :  a  fine  glimpse  into  Hebrew 
family  life. 

14.  Your  bones  shall  flourish,  etc. :   this  figure  for  the  recovery 

2E  417 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


The  Judgment  (66  : 1 5-1 8a) 

15.  For,  behold,  the  Lord  will  come  ^with  fire, 

And  his  chariots  shall  be  Uke  the  whirlwind ; 
To  render  his  anger  with  fury. 
And  his  rebuke  with  flames  of  fire. 

16.  For  2 by  fire  will  the  Lord  plead, 

And  by  his  sword,  with  all  flesh  : 

And  the  slain  of  the  Lord  shall  be  many. 

17.  They  that  sanctify  themselves  and  purify  themselves 

To  go  unto  the  gardens,  ^  behind  one  in  the  midst, 

1  m.  in;  Gr.  as.  2  Gr.  with  the  fire  of  the  Lord  shall  all  the  earth  he  judged  and  with 
his  sword  all  flesh.  ^  Gr.  om.  this  clause.  A  Heb.  variant  reads  one  in  the  feminine. 
Syr.  Tar.  and  two  Greek  versions  otie  after  another. 

of  strength,  joy,  beauty,  may  seem  forced  to  us,  but  not  to  the 
Oriental,  who  frequently  mentions  the  bones  when  alluding  to  the 
welfare  of  the  body  (cf.  Ps.  32:3).  For  hand,  perhaps  loving- 
kindness. 

66:i5-i8a.  The  judgment,  announced  in  the  last  clause  of 
vs.  14,  is  here  elaborated.  It  is  to  be  universal  — upon  all  flesh 
(vs.  16) — but  more  particularly  will  it  fall  upon  the  idolatrous 
Jews  (vs.  17). 

15.  With,  or  rather  in  fire  (cf.  Deut.  5  :  22  f.)  :  Gr.  has /i^e  fire. 
Whirlwind :  Jehovah  rides  on  the  storm-cloud  (Hab.  3:8). 

16.  Plead,  enter  into  judgment.  And  the  slain,  etc. :  this  clause, 
which  is  metrically  superfluous,  should  perhaps  be  deleted.  It 
may  have  been  suggested  by  Jer.  25  :  33  ;  Zeph.  2:12,  and  added  to 
indicate  the  deadly  effect  of  the  divine  judgment. 

17.  The  judgment  which  falls  upon  all  Jehovah's  enemies, 
singles  out  especially  the  Jewish  apostates,  who  sanctify  and  purify 
themselves  for  the  unlawful  rites  celebrated  in  the  gardens  (cf.  65  : 
3  ;  1 :  29),  and  partake  of  sacrificial  meals  involving  the  recognition 
of  the  swine  (cf.  vs.  3),  the  mouse,  and  vermin  (lit.  swarming 
creatures,  as  we  should  read,  rather  than  abomination)  as  sacred 
animals.  Cf.  the  somewhat  similar  description  in  65  :  3  f.  These 
rites  were  performed  behind  one  in  the  midst,  —  that  is,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  group  taking  their  cue  from  the  leader,  who  "  stood  in 
the  midst  of  them"  (cf.  Ezek.  8 :  11),  and  regulated  the  ceremony 

418 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  66:  19 


Eating  swine's  flesh, 

And  the  abomination,  and  the  mouse  ; 
They  shall  come  to  an  end  together,  saith  the  Lord. 

18.  For  I  know  their  works  and  their  thoughts. 

Jehovah's  Glory  announced  throughout  the  World:  the  Com- 
plete Restoration  and  Perpetuity  of  Israel  (66  :  i8b-22) 

^  The  time  cometh,  that  I  will  gather 

All  nations  and  tongues  ; 
And  they  shall  come,  and  shall  see  my  glory. 

19.  And  I  will  set  a  sign  among  them, 

And  I  will  send  such  as  escape  of  them 

Unto  the  nations,  to  Tarshish,  ^  Pul  and  Lud,  ^  that 
draw  the  bow,  to  Tubal  and  ^  Javan, 

1  Gr.  /  am  coming  to  gather.        2  Gr.  Ptd.        3  Qr.  Meshech.        *  Gr.  Greece. 

of  purification.  In  vs.  18,  the  words  know  and  the  time  are  unrep- 
resented in  the  Hebrew ;  Duhm  happily  suggests  that  their  works 
and  their  thoughts  {i.e.  their  idolatry  and  their  hostility  to  the 
faithful)  really  belong  to  vs.  17;  thus  —  the  idolaters,  who  eat 
swine's  flesh,  etc.,  they,  their  works  and  their  thoughts,  shall  come 
to  an  end  together,  saith  Jehovah. 

66:  i8b-22.  The  nations  are  gathered  together  for  judgment. 
Those  who  survive  go  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  declare  Jehovah's 
power  and  glory.  Moved  by  the  message,  the  distant  peoples 
among  whom  the  Jews  have  been  dispersed  bring  them  back 
voluntarily  to  Jerusalem,  where  some  of  them  are  appointed  to  the 
office  of  priest ;  and  the  assurance  is  given  that  the  Jewish  name 
and  race  will  be  eternal. 

18.  After  the  transference  of  their  words  and  their  thoughts  to 
vs.  17,  we  are  justified  in  rendering  vs.  18  as  follows:  and  I  am 
coming  to  gather  all  nations,  etc.,  i.e.  for  judgment.  The  glory 
which  they  are  to  see  (Exod.  14  :  4),  and  the  sign  which  is  to  be  set 
among  them  (Exod.  10:2),  is  apparently  some  mighty  act  of 
judgment. 

19.  The  survivors  are  to  be  sent  throughout  the  world  to  declare 
Jehovah's  glory,  thus  manifested  in  judgment.     There  is  little 

419 


66  :  20  THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 


To  the  isles  afar  off, 
That  have  not  heard  my  ^  fame, 
Neither  have  seen  my  glory. 

And  they  shall  declare  my  glory  among  the  nations. 

20.  And  they  shall  bring  all  your  brethren  out  of   all 

the  nations 
For  an  offering  unto  the  Lord, 

Upon  horses,  and  in  chariots,  and  in  litters,  and 
upon  mules,  and  upon  ^  swift  beasts,  to  my  holy 
mountain, 
Jerusalem,  saith  the  Lord, 

As  the  children  of  Israel  bring  their  offering 
In  a  clean  vessel  into  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

21.  And  of  them  also  will  I  take 

^  For  priests  and  for  Levites,  saith  the  Lord. 

2  Pet.  3: 13   22.  For  as  the  new  heavens 

Rev.  21 : 1  ^^^  ^Yie  new  earth,  which  I  will  make, 

1  Gr.  name.  ^  m.  SV  dromedaries.  ^Yith.  for  priests,  for  Levites;  all  the  versions 
and  some  Heb.  MSB.  for  priests  and  for  Levites. 

doubt,  however,  that  the  names  of  the  countries  to  which  they  go  are 
later  insertions  (based  upon  Ezek.  29:10,  i2f. ;  38:2;  39:1). 
Tarshish,  in  Spain;  Put  (rather  than  Put)  and  Lud  in  north 
Africa ;  Meshech  and  Rosh  (as  we  should  probably  read  for  that 
draw  the  how;  cf.  Gr.)  and  Tubal,  in  northeastern  Asia  Minor; 
Javan,  Greece. 

20.  Your  brethren  :  the  Jews  scattered  in  those  distant  foreign 
lands  are  to  be  restored  to  Jerusalem  by  the  heathen  themselves, 
who  present  them  gratefully  as  an  ofering  to  Jehovah.  The  clause 
describing  the  means  of  transport  —  upon  horses  .  .  .  swift 
beasts  —  interrupts  the  metre  and  is  apparently  an  interpolation. 

21.  Some  of  them,  i.e.  of  the  restored  Jews,  would  be  made 
Levitical  priests  (as  we  should  probably  read  instead  of  priests  and 
Levites).  The  temple  will  be  a  permanent  feature  of  the  new 
Jerusalem  (vs.  23),  and  it  will  need  its  sacrifices  (60 :  7)  and  priests. 

420 


THE  BOOK  OF  ISAIAH  66  :  24 


Shall  remain  before  me,  saith  the  Lord, 
So  shall  your  seed  and  your  name  remain. 

The  Fearful  Fate  of  the  Apostates  (66  :  23  f.) 

23.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  from  one  new  moon  to 

another, 
And  from  one  sabbath  to  another. 
Shall  all  flesh  come  to  worship 
Before  me,  saith  the  Lord. 

24.  And  they  shall  go  forth,  and  look 

Upon  the  carcases  of  the  men  that  have  transgressed 
against  me : 
For  their  worm  shall  not  die,  ^^-  ^ ''  ^^ 

Neither  shall  their  fire  be  quenched ; 
And  they  shall  be  an  abhorring  unto  all  flesh. 

22.  The  Jewish  race  and  name  will  be  as  eternal  as  the  new 
heavens  and  the  new  earth. 

23.  All  flesh  :  probably  all  (faithful)  Jews,  as  in  Joel  2:28.  A 
weekly  or  monthly  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  is  manifestly  impossible. 

24.  It  is  no  doubt  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  near  Jerusalem,  the 
earthly  antitype  of  Gehenna  (hell),  that  the  faithful  are  to  be  con- 
ceived as  going  out  to  view  the  burning  carcases  of  their  apostate 
brethren,  whose  torment  appears  to  be  regarded  as  eternal.  The 
carcases  are  an  object  of  abhorrence  to  all  flesh,  but,  in  accordance 
with  the  general  temper  of  the  Old  Testament, the  faithful  no  doubt 
look  upon  them  with  a  certain  satisfaction,  finding  in  them  a  vivid 
confirmation  of  their  sorely  tried  faith  in  the  divine  government  of 
the  world  (cf.  Mai.  3  :  18) .  "  It  is  sad,"  remarks  Duhm,  "  that  the 
book  which  contains  much  of  what  is  most  glorious,  exalted, 
significant,  and  pious  in  the  Old  Testament,  should  now  end  with 
such  a  demonic  discord."  There  is  much  to  suggest  that  the  pas- 
sage is  later  than  its  context  —  perhaps  indeed  very  late. 


421 


INDEX 


Adonis,  130. 
Agriculture,  186  f. 
Ahaz,  9. 
Ariel,  188. 

Ashdod,  capture  of,  4. 
Asherim,  129. 
Assyria,  2  flf. 

Babylon,  108  ff.,  143  ff.,  247  fi. 
Beltis,  93. 

Cornerstone,  184. 
Cyrus,  248,  296, 

Damascus,  127: 
Deutero-Isaiah,  247  flf. 

message  of,  249  f. 

style  of,  256  f. 
Dew  of  lights,  174. 
Dragon,  175. 

Edom,  218. 
Egypt,  133,  195,  204. 
Eliakim,  153  f. 
Ethiopia,  131. 

Fasting,  373. 

Gressmann,  74. 
Guthe,  10. 

Heliopolis,  138. 
Hezekiah,  225  flf. 
Holiness,  65. 

Isaiah,  arrangement  of  book,  i  f . 
call  of,  64. 
faith  of,  10,  72,  199. 
literary  problems  of,  13. 
style  of,  12,  55. 


Isaiah,  times  of,  2  flf. 

LeontopoHs,  138  f.,  140. 
Leviathan,  175, 

Merodach-baladan,  243.  ' 

Moab,  121  flf. 

Nebuchadrezzar,  247. 

Necromancy,  83. 

New  Jerusalem,  346,  384  ff. 

Osiris,  93. 

Play  upon  words,  57,  77. 

Rahab,  333. 

Sabbath,  361,  377. 

Sacrifice,  28. 

Samaria,  180. 

Sargon,  4  f . 

Sennacherib,  5  f.,  225  ff. 

Servant  of  Jehovah,  251  ff.,  339, 345  f. 

Shalmaneser  IV,  4. 

Shebna,  152. 

Shiloah,  78. 

Tiglath  Pileser,  3  f. 
Trito-Isaiah,  355  ff. 

message  of,  359. 

style  of,  361. 
Tyre,  155  ff. 

Uzziah,  6,  40. 

Virgin,  73  f. 

World-judgment,  160  ff. 


423 


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have  long  been  waiting  for.  The  other  commentaries  are  in  too 
many  volumes  and  cost  too  much  to  get  into  the  ordinary  domestic 
library.  But  this  fits  any  shelf.  The  explanations  clear  away  the 
difficulties  and  illuminate  the  text.  They  make  it  possible  for  anybody 
to  read  even  the  prophets  with  understanding.  The  critical  exposi- 
tions are  uniformly  conservative,  but  the  best  scholarship  is  brought 
to  them.  This  is  what  devout  and  careful  scholars  believe.  To  bring 
all  this  into  moderate  compass  and  under  a  reasonable  price  is  a 
notable  accomplishment."  —  Dr.  George  Hodges,  Dean  of  the  Episcopal 
Theological  School,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

"  An  astonishing  amount  of  information  has  been  compressed  into 
these  pages,  and  it  will  be  difficult  to  find  another  book  anything 
near  this  in  size  which  will  be  as  helpful  to  the  general  reader  as 
this.  Sunday-school  teachers,  Bible  students,  Christian  Endeavorers, 
and  all  that  are  interested  in  the  study  of  the  Word  of  God  will  find 
here  a  store  of  helpful  suggestions."  —  Christian  Endeavor  World. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

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Date  Due 

jfe4  m 

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